How To: Create With Felt

Ever since J. Morgan Puett, we've had an odd attraction to felt. Soft, raw, sort of dumb, cheap, felt is the outcast of the textile world and finds its home with children or under the housing of a jet engine. We built the doors inside our house out of it, and we saw today that Tim used it in his bed to build a headboard (or to simply pad one)...

We've also seen it put to amazing use on interior walls in NYC due to the genius of the LTL, who use it everywhere in their interiors - particularly the bakery FLUFF above (now deceased). BTW, that's felt on edge lining the walls above.

We've used it for doors, headboards and even as an impromptu rug in our bedroom. The thick, juicy stuff feels just great under your feet and adds a surprising contrast to a typical interior. True, you can't wash it, but it IS very durable and with vacuuming it lasts nicely.

Felt comes in a lot of thicknesses, and in a broad range of colors if you are buying in the thinner range. The basic colors are grey and white, which has a very creamy, warm consistency.

Prices tend to vary and sheets are sold by the yard (it all comes off of a roll). The standard roll width is 72" and you can usually request any cuts you want for smaller pieces. You can cut it yourself with a sharp Exacto very easily.

Here is our list of suppliers:
• Sutherland Felt Company @ $75 a yard
• Southeastern Felt
• Central Shippee
• Aetna Felt

Comments (15)

Would you please tell where the colorful felt is from and what it's called? This is the *perfect* solution for the wall behind my bed. Can't paint it and I have Pentecostal neighbors that play very exciting music early Sunday mornings. I've been looking for a non-hideous baffling solution.

Wondering if I could work the felt onto that three track Ikea curtain system and overlay it with some of the flat scrims they do that have patterning with opaque and translucent bits. Affordable and potentially awesome.

Maxwell, have you ever discussed how you keep your white felt doors clean? I live in the west village too, and my white window sills collect soot. Will you just replace them as necessary?

I'm trying to find a good source for 1" thick felt. All I can seem to get is gray. Any ideas?

hooray! i hope this is the first of many more felt posts to come...

brkeim-

I know the folks at aetna felt will custom dye 1" thick white industrial felt, but it requires a minimum purchase.

I'm set now! Thank you and muchos besos!

i need help in finding a 1 inch thick 10 x 10 foot grey felt rug.

any help is appreciated.

I was wondering what thickness and weight or grade would be good for a rug. It will be in an entry hall so i don't want it to thick and squishy as i'll normlly be in shoes while i'm walking on it. any help would be appreciated.
thanks

I just ordered felt from Sutherland for a few projects. I called the four companies listed above and they were all very kind and helpful, given this was my first felt-buying experience. The key is to figure out which SAE classification you need. Sutherland's SAE chart was the most helpful. You will need to know: what size piece(s) you need, keeping in mind that it usually comes off a 72" roll; what thickness, up to 1", the thicker the more expensive; how soft; and what color. Most industrial felts come in only one color per classification, either gray or white. Meaning that if you are buying F-10 it will always be creamy white, if you are buying F-11 it will always be gray. The shade of gray might vary from light to dark depending on the batch. I chose Sutherland because they were the cheapest. For example for a 72x20 piece of F-10 I was quoted 150-200 from the others, Sutherland charged about 100. I will report back on how the projects turn out...

Hi, Susannah-

That is quite a difference in price. Are you sure you were comparing apples to apples? F-10 can be needled or pressed, and needled is cheaper. Any idea which you bought? How'd your projects work out?

I know this is a very old post... but I keep coming back to it because I love the idea of felt curtains. Maybe others do too.... I'm trying to figure out what thickness / weight would work best for panel curtains... or which would be the heaviest felt that would still pleat. Any ideas? I'm planning on using the IKEA 3 panel system to create a kind of tone on tone neutral natural cubist thing.....

@susanbnyc

I know this is old, but....

Aetna Felt has 2mm, 3mm and 5mm 100% wool felt, as well as some in 1mm range, in many colors. You can call for free samples to see if any of them would work for you.

Hope that helps!!