How to Felt Knitting in a Front-Loading Washer
If you enjoy knitting and like the look of felted knits, you can make felted projects using your front-loading washing machine. It will take a bit more time and effort on your part than felting in a top-loading washer does, but you can felt knitted items in a front-loading washer that has a stop or pause function.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Prepare your knitted piece to be felted, with all the loose ends tied or woven in and straps or other accessories attached. Your knitting pattern should tell you whether to felt the item in separate pieces or all put together.
-
2
Place your item to felt in a nylon mesh lingerie bag or a pillow case.
-
-
3
Set the wash temperature to "Hot" and the load size to "Small" with high agitation, such as a heavy-duty cycle.
-
4
Add the rinse-free soap.
-
5
Add a heavier item to help increase agitation, such as a tennis ball or an old pair of jeans, if you are washing a small item such as a purse.
-
6
Start the washer and set the timer. Check the progress of the felting every five minutes or so. In a front-load washer, you'll have to use the "Pause" or "Stop" button and wait for the water level to settle and the door latch to open. If your front load washer does not have this feature, it is almost impossible to felt correctly.
-
7
Keep checking the knitting until it has reached the firm, felted stage. You may have to take the piece out of the washer, wring it out and see how it is doing. Continue this process as many times as necessary to reach the final felted stage. Do not allow the washer to rinse and spin, as this will stop the felting process and it can add permanent creases to your felted piece.
-
8
Rinse the piece in cool to warm water. If you used a rinse-free wool wash, you don't have to rinse your piece.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Don't let your washer go into the rinse and spin mode when you are felting, it can ruin the piece.
References
- Photo Credit Ryan McVay/Photodisc/Getty Images
