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Age-Old Form of Fabric Making Is Today's New Trend

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(NewsUSA) - Which hot new crafting trend got its start in the late stone age? It's not cave painting. It's felting, a process in which the fibers of two or more materials are combined without the use of needle, thread or adhesive.

In 5,000 B.C., before the development of the weaving loom, people made felt by pulling apart animal fibers like wool and pounding or rolling them into flat sheets that could be used as cloth. By melding in different colored fibers, they could create designs and patterns.

Today, a new kind of home machine is giving crafters a quick and easy way to do a process called "needle felting," or "needle punching." The result is a look that can't be duplicated by regular sewing, embroidery or knitting.

Rather than making sheets of felt, needle felting combines the fibers of a soft material like yarn, thread or woolen roving with almost any kind of fabric. One material is enmeshed into the other, creating an effect more like airbrushing or painting than a fiber art.

Needle felting expert Paula Scaffidi, who runs the textile Web site Fiberella.com, says what she loves most about the technique is the way the colors mix almost as if they were liquids.

"My creative life hasn't been the same since this way of working has been added to my palette," says Scaffidi.

Machine needle felting is being used to decorate garments from delicate blouses to fleece outerwear. Felted materials also make stunning fashion accessories, like purses and scarves. And textile artists are using the technique on everything from ultrasuede to paper.

The Xpression needle punch machine from the Janome Sewing Machine Co. looks a lot like a regular home sewing machine. What's missing is anything having to do with thread: no upper thread, no bobbin down below, and no feed dogs to move the fabric. Instead of one sewing needle, it has five felting needles with special barbs along each edge.

Two or more layers of material are placed under the needles, and as they go through the first layer, the barbs catch the fibers and push them down into the bottom layer. The fibers can be pushed from the front or the back of the fabric, depending on the desired effect.

Items that have been appropriately needle felted do not come apart. In fact, depending on the materials used, they can stand up to repeated machine washings.

More information on the Xpression is available at http://www.janome.com.