Q: Why do you always recommend wool felt? Why can’t I use craft felt from the fabric store?
A: The reason I always suggest wool or wool blend felt is it’s just better. Now, craft felt does come in different qualities, but in general, it’s thinner and weaker. It will pill and get fuzzy as it gets used. In the washing machine, it’s almost like it dissolves, and it will pill really badly. Eco-fi felt might seem like a good choice because it’s made from recycled water bottles, and if you’re going to use craft felt, that’s what I would suggest, but it will be thin and pull apart very easily. For heirloom and quality projects, I highly recommend using wool felt.
100% wool felt is soft and warm and it won’t pill as it gets used or washed, though it can get a little fuzzy with lots of use. It might shrink however! Wool felt is also created sustainably from sheep’s wool all over the world. Wool-blend felt is pretty nice too, although it seems thinner in my opinion, but it’s still pretty strong and has the other benefits of wool.
If you’re going to use felt on clothing, however, I would suggest a 100% bamboo felt. Bamboo felt is less expensive than wool and comes in really nice colors. Like wool, it won’t pill. It has a more slippery feel than wool, which is why I don’t use it in most things, but it’s a pretty decent substitution.
Q: Is applique the same as embroidery?
No, applique is not the same as embroidery, though they may use a lot of the same techniques.
Applique is when a fabric is placed on top of another and stitched into place. It may be as simple as a shape on a quilt square, or it may be many shapes placed together to create a more intricate design on top of the fabric. I use felt to create my applique designs, but they can be done with any type of fabric also. Felt is very easy because it won’t fray.
Embroidery is where one only uses stitches with thread (and sometimes beads) to create designs on the fabric. There are a lot of different stitches that you can use to create your designs on fabric – and these stitches might be used to stitch on or decorate appliques as well.
– Click here to see my embroidery basics post, which can help you find all sorts of embroidery resources.
– Here’s a tutorial that creates an embroidered applique!
I hope this helps you understand that difference!
Q: How would you recommend a beginner get started in embroidery? How easy is it to pick up embroidery?
I think that the first step is to find a pattern that you’re excited to try! Something simple though – (you might check out my patterns, some of them are labeled as great for beginners!). Then, check out this post I created just for beginners. It has everything you need to know. But basically, you just need some fabric, a hoop, a needle and some embroidery floss to get started! Try out some embroidery stitches- I have 2 free printable booklets that will help you get started here and here. I hope this helps you out! It’s fairly easy to get started, just like every new thing, it will take practice – but that’s the fun part!
Do you have a question that I can answer?
Click here to ask it and I’ll answer in an upcoming newsletter and it’ll get posted here as well!
