Homemade Felt From Dryer Lint

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Things You'll Need

  • 2 or 3 wool sweaters

  • Jelly roll tray

  • Dish soap

  • Water

  • Clothes dryer

  • Towel

Learn how to felt wool lint.

Felting is a handicraft many people enjoy that involves turning wool roving into a sheet of dense fabric. Although felting typically requires raw sheep, alpaca or llama wool fibers, you can also create a felted sheet of wool using wool lint from your clothes dryer. This felted wool can be used to make sewing projects, book covers and crafts projects from natural fibers. Everything required to make felt from wool dryer lint can be purchased at a grocery store or supermarket.

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Step 1

Collect dryer lint to make felt.

Select two to three old wool sweaters that you or your family will never wear again, and wet them thoroughly in a sink of hot water. Squeeze out the excess water, and place them into a clothes dryer. Remove any lint from the lint trap before you dry the wool sweater so that the new lint will only be wool. Dry the sweaters on high for at least 60 minutes. Collect the wool lint from the lint trap.

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Step 2

Layer the wool into one sheet.

Place the wool lint onto a jelly roll pan, and pour very hot water onto it. Place four to five drops of dish soap into the pan, and use your fingers to agitate the wool. To do this, tap your fingers vigorously into the wool lint repeatedly. The wool lint will begin to become tighter and more dense as you tap it. Once all of the wool lint has been felted, rinse out the sheet of wool felt under warm water until it no longer contains any soap. Squeeze the excess water out of the felted wool.

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Step 3

Allow the wool to dry completely before using it for crafting.

Lay the sheet of wool felt onto a towel. Allow the wool felt to remain on the towel until it has dried completely, then you can use it for your crafting projects.

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