How to felt a knitted Poppy

sammyjammy

As the title says I have knitted a poppy, its lovely but a bit big and I thought it might look nice felted, is there a good way to do this?  I've put a cardigan in a too hot washing machine before which came out felted is it as easy as that?  Everything  I get when I try and google it is related to creating felt for use from strands of wool

Katiehound

Felting will only work with woollen items

I used the following method for felting with wool rovings but I think it should work with a knitted piece too. The aim is to get the fibres to matt together.

If I remember correctly you can do this on a table or work surface  covered in plastic (a bin bag) then use a large  piece of bubble wrap.. Lay your poppy on top, squirt with small amount of hottish water & washing up liquid and rub against the bubble wrap. As you agitate it the fibres should start to felt . Wearing a textured rubber glove would speed this up. Maybe a bubble wrap 'sandwich' with poppy between.
 
Another way you could try is to tack it between a couple of pieces of fabric and then put in a hot wash with other items when using the machine normally. I've just seen a YouTube with knitted bags felted this way.

just had a  thought that maybe you need to tack your poppy between fabric before using the bubble wrap too....sorry  I can't remember!

sammyjammy

Thank you, thats really helpful.

Marcon

Google really does come into its own here eg 
https://www.yarnoverpullthrough.com/3-ways-to-felt-your-crochet-projects/
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4KTNIjc8wY

Katiehound

I've definitely felted smallish items without a bowl/bucket/sink of water. The reason I remember is because the place the class was taking place did not have those facilities. It was all done on the table top.
Bubble wrap, towel, old bamboo blind- all those items will create friction