Felts
We have three types of felt made in South Australia from our huacaya alpacas. Each felt is pressed on a felting machine which gives a soft, slippery cloth, surprisingly sturdy. The best fibre makes the best felt. Some felts are two toned, and others are solid toned. Some have a lovely colour splash on one side, which is made by incorporating a small amount of white or coloured silk roving into one side of the felting process.
Whole Fleece Felt is made from the best combined saddle and neck fibre of the alpaca, and is super-soft yet strong, great for capes and jackets. You can make up a cap or jacket with it using a garment pattern suitable for fake-fur or boiled wool material.
Neck Fleece Felt is made from the best neck fibre of the alpaca. This results in a lovely soft felt, great for garments with a lining. You can use it with a fake-fur or boiled wool garment pattern with a silk or polyester lining.
Craft Felt is suitable for craft work such as bags, wall hangings, slipper outers or thermal insulation. This is made from carded broader micron pieces of various white and light fawn alpacas. You can needle punch it, paint it with wool dye or decorate it for wall hangings. If you would like to make hats or slippers, try adding a lining to your garment with silk or other sheer fabric.
All sheets are about 1.1 m x 0.9 m and weigh between 300 and 400 g depending on thickness and style. Sheet thickness are available from about 1.5 mm to about 4 mm.
The edges are untrimmed, straight out of the felting process, ready to be trimmed to your desired size and shape. You can cut it to size using dressmaking shears and sew it the same way as fake fur or boiled wool.
Do you know how to sew? There are quite a few lovely coat and jacket patterns which will suit this material. The small bolero jackets and capes only use one sheet; the larger capes and coats will either need two sheets of felt, or you can creatively knit sleeves in your favourite yarn and use the felt in the body of the garment. Yet another option may be to sew the felt like leather or using a blanket stitch or trim along the edges in a contrasting colour. There are many possibilities here. The felt can also be cut lengthwise into strips to make short scarves. Of course, felts can be felted! If you are handy with a felting needle, you can embellish the felt with more colour or pizzaz.
All alpaca colours are the natural colours of the fleece; we don't dye our alpaca. Where coloured silk has been added as a highlight, it contains colourfast dyes.
How to launder your felt
Our felts are already cleaned, however if your garment needs a wash, alpaca felt can be laundered in much the same way as a wool jumper. In a tub, mix a wool wash detergent in warm water and place the felt garment in it. Allow the garment to soak up the suds. Gently hand press the soiled area(s) until clean. Tip out the suds and rinse in warm water a couple of times until the rinse is clear. You may add wool conditioner to the final rinse if desired. Tip off the final rinse and place the garment in the washing machine, set to SPIN only. Spin off the excess water. Remove the garment and place on a flat drying rack. Pull to shape and allow to dry in the shade. If the garment is lined, when it is dry, use the correct iron temperature for the lining and only lightly press the lining. You may like to lightly hand brush the outer side if you like the fibres going one way.