Frequently Asked Questions
How do I wash wool felts?
This is the most FAQ of all! My answer, you do not wash wool felts. Only rinse them. I pre-rinse my wool felts to pre-shrink and get out any extra dye. I run the wool felt piece under warm water in my sink. Watch for any bleeding and continue until the water runs almost clear. My preferred wool felts are National Nonwovens (made in the USA) and they do not have much excess dye. Most are colorfast.
After rinsing, I squeeze water out the felt and let it air dry. Then press to prepare for use.
After wool felt is appliquéd onto a project, care for it in the same manner. Hand wash and lay flat to dry.
If your project is made of entirely wool felts as in a candle mat, I usually just have to shake the item as they tend to attract dust.
This is the most FAQ of all! My answer, you do not wash wool felts. Only rinse them. I pre-rinse my wool felts to pre-shrink and get out any extra dye. I run the wool felt piece under warm water in my sink. Watch for any bleeding and continue until the water runs almost clear. My preferred wool felts are National Nonwovens (made in the USA) and they do not have much excess dye. Most are colorfast.
After rinsing, I squeeze water out the felt and let it air dry. Then press to prepare for use.
After wool felt is appliquéd onto a project, care for it in the same manner. Hand wash and lay flat to dry.
If your project is made of entirely wool felts as in a candle mat, I usually just have to shake the item as they tend to attract dust.
What is the difference between felted wool and wool felt?
There is a huge difference between the two wools despite the similarity of their names.
Felted wool is a piece of woven (mostly) or knit wool. Like a wool coat or a sweater. Then this wool fabric is then felted. This means it is boiled, washed, or agitated to a felted state. The wool piece is now much smaller, much thicker and has the attributes of a piece of felt. It will not fray much when cut. Then the wool it most often dyed into wonderful colors. This process is time consuming and mostly done by hand. The cost of felted wool is up to 100% the price of wool felt. But felted wool will stand the test of time and you will have a beautiful completed project that will last for years! Felted wool is washable and will not shrink. Care must be taken. I recommend hand or delicate setting and drying flat.
Wool Felt is wool fibers sometimes mixed with other fibers (rayon mostly) to bind. The wool fiber is pressed into a flat cloth.
The cloth created is about 1/16 th inch thick and it will not fray at all when cut into shapes. Since wool is a natural fiber it can be dyed into wonderful colors. Wool felt does not wash well. Wool felt will shrink and wad up. I recommend rinsing wool felt under warm water to remove any excess dye (there is usually not too much running depending on which brand of wool felt you have purchased) and to shrink slightly. Let the wool felt air dry flat. Then press to prepare for use. After your wool felt is on a project, always hand wash and air dry. If your project is all wool felt as in a candle mat, I usually just have to shake them clean like a rug as they tend to attract dust. Wool felt is inexpensive and is a great fiber for quick fun projects.
There is a huge difference between the two wools despite the similarity of their names.
Felted wool is a piece of woven (mostly) or knit wool. Like a wool coat or a sweater. Then this wool fabric is then felted. This means it is boiled, washed, or agitated to a felted state. The wool piece is now much smaller, much thicker and has the attributes of a piece of felt. It will not fray much when cut. Then the wool it most often dyed into wonderful colors. This process is time consuming and mostly done by hand. The cost of felted wool is up to 100% the price of wool felt. But felted wool will stand the test of time and you will have a beautiful completed project that will last for years! Felted wool is washable and will not shrink. Care must be taken. I recommend hand or delicate setting and drying flat.
Wool Felt is wool fibers sometimes mixed with other fibers (rayon mostly) to bind. The wool fiber is pressed into a flat cloth.
The cloth created is about 1/16 th inch thick and it will not fray at all when cut into shapes. Since wool is a natural fiber it can be dyed into wonderful colors. Wool felt does not wash well. Wool felt will shrink and wad up. I recommend rinsing wool felt under warm water to remove any excess dye (there is usually not too much running depending on which brand of wool felt you have purchased) and to shrink slightly. Let the wool felt air dry flat. Then press to prepare for use. After your wool felt is on a project, always hand wash and air dry. If your project is all wool felt as in a candle mat, I usually just have to shake them clean like a rug as they tend to attract dust. Wool felt is inexpensive and is a great fiber for quick fun projects.
What kind/size of needle should I use?
Hand needles come in a variety of sizes and types. Each needle has been designed for a specific use. Some types of needles you might have seen are: quilters, embroidery, milliners or straws, darners, tapestry...
Embroidery needles are what I mostly use. Embroidery needles are designed with a tapered length to allow the needle to break through the fabric, widen the hole to eventually bring the eye of the needle through with embroidery floss (thicker than sewing thread). The eye of this needle is longer to allow the threads to lie beside each other.
There are numbered sizes for the every needle. Lower the number, larger the needle and vice versa.
If you are tugging and popping to pull your needle and thread through the fabric, switch to a larger needle size. There should be no tugging or popping only pulling the needle through smoothly. Your hands and fingers will thank you after a long session of hand sewing.
Hand needles come in a variety of sizes and types. Each needle has been designed for a specific use. Some types of needles you might have seen are: quilters, embroidery, milliners or straws, darners, tapestry...
Embroidery needles are what I mostly use. Embroidery needles are designed with a tapered length to allow the needle to break through the fabric, widen the hole to eventually bring the eye of the needle through with embroidery floss (thicker than sewing thread). The eye of this needle is longer to allow the threads to lie beside each other.
There are numbered sizes for the every needle. Lower the number, larger the needle and vice versa.
If you are tugging and popping to pull your needle and thread through the fabric, switch to a larger needle size. There should be no tugging or popping only pulling the needle through smoothly. Your hands and fingers will thank you after a long session of hand sewing.
Opening a downloaded pattern from the site.
Follow these steps but do not use a handheld device. iPad, Phones, or Tablets. Use a laptop or desktop computer.
There are two ways you receive the download. It arrives on your order confirmation after you hit "complete my order". You wave your cursor over the link and click. Pattern pages may appear or, pages may go into your download folder. If you do not open (download) your pages at this time, don't worry an email will arrive also. The email subject is: Your Bareroots Download is ready. When you open this email, it sometimes looks like a gobbled email full of text and symbols. Click the download this email button. It will be a copy of your order confirmation. Again, wave your cursor over the links and open each one and print. Make sure your printer is set at 100% to get a full size pattern page. If you have done these things and still not received the links, please email me at: barri@bareroots.com. I will attach in an email for you.
I am sorry for the watermarks that appear on your downloaded pattern. I try very hard to make these light as possible. It is one barrier in trying to combat theft.
Follow these steps but do not use a handheld device. iPad, Phones, or Tablets. Use a laptop or desktop computer.
There are two ways you receive the download. It arrives on your order confirmation after you hit "complete my order". You wave your cursor over the link and click. Pattern pages may appear or, pages may go into your download folder. If you do not open (download) your pages at this time, don't worry an email will arrive also. The email subject is: Your Bareroots Download is ready. When you open this email, it sometimes looks like a gobbled email full of text and symbols. Click the download this email button. It will be a copy of your order confirmation. Again, wave your cursor over the links and open each one and print. Make sure your printer is set at 100% to get a full size pattern page. If you have done these things and still not received the links, please email me at: barri@bareroots.com. I will attach in an email for you.
I am sorry for the watermarks that appear on your downloaded pattern. I try very hard to make these light as possible. It is one barrier in trying to combat theft.
Transferring a pattern to fabric.
Place pattern design page (the drawing) onto a light source. The light source may be a light box, a sunny window or a device screen set to a white screen. I like to tape my pattern in place. Center and portion fabric over the pattern page. Using your favorite tracing tool. trace pattern to fabric. Tracing tools may be: a wash-away pen (the blue kind), an iron away pen (Frixion), a pencil, and even a permanent fine line pen (Pigma brand works best - no bleeding). Some of these tracing tools can be found in my "Favorite Notions" category.
I like to use removable pens - wash-away or iron-away as they are forgiving and I can clean up mistakes.
If you are having trouble seeing the pattern through the fabric, go over the lines with a larger pen. I do not give the pattern in thick pen as you cannot see as much detail. If your pattern is taped down, you can lift your fabric up and check on your progress.
Stick n' Stitch by Sulky is a transfer paper you can run through an inkjet printer and peel and stick to your project. After stitching is done, rinse project several times before your item is free of the paper residue. I have used these papers and they do work well. It does take lots of rinsing to remove the lines. The paper does add another layer to stitch through. This makes for stiffer stitching surface.
If you are tracing onto thick fabric, wool or wool felt, here are some other ideas:
Place thick fabric down first. Gently prick the pattern with a pin through the lines to trace. Then with a removable pen place a dot of ink through the pin holes. Then connect the dots.
Tulle netting. Trace design onto tulle netting with a permanent marker. Then pin your tulle onto the thick fabric. Trace thought the tulle holes with a wash-away or iron-away pen.
Tissue paper. trace design onto tissue paper. Then pin tissue onto thick fabric and stitch through the tissue.
For little bits of tracing, I always encourage free hand! If you use a removable pen, then you can try, try again!
FYI: I do not trace well. meaning, I just trace a vine. I do not trace every leaf or flower. I put a dot where the "daisy" will be then I do lazy daisy petals, stick a french knot in the center! For leaves, I put them wherever the pattern shows me or I feel like one needs to be there! For straight lines, I like to make a dot at beginning and end and then fill in with a ruler.
Transfer Pens or Pencils.
There are many ways to transfer markings to fabric. I will list the different types and their good points and not so good points.
Blue Wash-Away Pens: There are 2 types, fine-line and regular. These are my go to choice. They remove with water, last a long time (I have had some for years) and remove easily. There is one very important way to use them though, and I cannot stress this enough, trace lightly. Especially when new. If you gently draw across your fabric, the pen will darken slightly after you put down the color. After stitching, simply blot out ink with a damp sponge. Think of pulling the ink out, not scrubbing. Not rinsing. If you press hard, your fabric will absorb the ink and too much ink will be in your fabric. This will require you to blot multiple times. Sometimes, I use the pen on a scrap piece of fabric to see if I am using a new one and see how much ink is running out. I prefer these pens a little older and I can draw without too much ink coming out.
I use the fine-line pen for cottons and the thicker line pen for wools or wool felts.
Frixion Pen: This is an ink pen that disappears with a warm dry iron. Very convenient when marking seam lines and stitching lines. There is one draw back, the lines sometimes reappear when your project gets cold. I just re-iron when this happens but it is a bit inconvenient and I have had some really messy lines reappear.
Pencil: This is easy, inexpensive and super handy. But you must again be careful and steady. The lines are difficult to remove. Not fun to try to erase over your stitches. In fact, pretty impossible. Keep a sharpener handy. Best used with tight thread count fabrics.
Pigma Pens: Thin lines, choice of colors, and permanent!! This lines are never going anywhere. But the lines are clear, and covered easily with 2 strands of floss. You will become more confident with your tracing the more you do. I only do a few inches at a time, pull back, breathe and start again. Sometimes even walk away from it to calm my nerves. As soon as I get a few inches done, it feels natural and I love that the markings are clear, thin and it is fun watching them disappear under the threads. I prefer brown tones to blacks for my tracings. I need to add these to my "Favorite Necessities" category.
Chalk Pencils: These are getting better and better. Multiple colors - white works great on darker fabrics. But, they break off easily, thick lines are a potential problem, and rub off with handling. The waxy chalks last longer but can be an issue to remove fully. Companies are making some thin ones (think of a pigma pen line) but these do break off. Multiple tries are needed to perfect and get used to using these. I love them for sewing work, straight lines, markings, etc.. They are a lot for tracing an embroidery pattern. And do not perform as well in loose weaves.
Iron-On Pencils: These are handy for multiple tracings. If you know you are going to do a pattern more than once, these are wonderful. Again, neat lines are required. They do not remove with water. Careful placement is required. So frustrating to find out you have misplaced your iron on. But, they do work multiple times. So this can be worth the effort.
Trace the back of the pattern, then place paper on to your fabric and iron to your fabric. Repeat up to 3 x successfully.
I used to use these in the 70's and 80's. Great for young beginners. The flipped/reversed aspect of letters does present some thought. Always trace from the back to remedy this.
Place pattern design page (the drawing) onto a light source. The light source may be a light box, a sunny window or a device screen set to a white screen. I like to tape my pattern in place. Center and portion fabric over the pattern page. Using your favorite tracing tool. trace pattern to fabric. Tracing tools may be: a wash-away pen (the blue kind), an iron away pen (Frixion), a pencil, and even a permanent fine line pen (Pigma brand works best - no bleeding). Some of these tracing tools can be found in my "Favorite Notions" category.
I like to use removable pens - wash-away or iron-away as they are forgiving and I can clean up mistakes.
If you are having trouble seeing the pattern through the fabric, go over the lines with a larger pen. I do not give the pattern in thick pen as you cannot see as much detail. If your pattern is taped down, you can lift your fabric up and check on your progress.
Stick n' Stitch by Sulky is a transfer paper you can run through an inkjet printer and peel and stick to your project. After stitching is done, rinse project several times before your item is free of the paper residue. I have used these papers and they do work well. It does take lots of rinsing to remove the lines. The paper does add another layer to stitch through. This makes for stiffer stitching surface.
If you are tracing onto thick fabric, wool or wool felt, here are some other ideas:
Place thick fabric down first. Gently prick the pattern with a pin through the lines to trace. Then with a removable pen place a dot of ink through the pin holes. Then connect the dots.
Tulle netting. Trace design onto tulle netting with a permanent marker. Then pin your tulle onto the thick fabric. Trace thought the tulle holes with a wash-away or iron-away pen.
Tissue paper. trace design onto tissue paper. Then pin tissue onto thick fabric and stitch through the tissue.
For little bits of tracing, I always encourage free hand! If you use a removable pen, then you can try, try again!
FYI: I do not trace well. meaning, I just trace a vine. I do not trace every leaf or flower. I put a dot where the "daisy" will be then I do lazy daisy petals, stick a french knot in the center! For leaves, I put them wherever the pattern shows me or I feel like one needs to be there! For straight lines, I like to make a dot at beginning and end and then fill in with a ruler.
Transfer Pens or Pencils.
There are many ways to transfer markings to fabric. I will list the different types and their good points and not so good points.
Blue Wash-Away Pens: There are 2 types, fine-line and regular. These are my go to choice. They remove with water, last a long time (I have had some for years) and remove easily. There is one very important way to use them though, and I cannot stress this enough, trace lightly. Especially when new. If you gently draw across your fabric, the pen will darken slightly after you put down the color. After stitching, simply blot out ink with a damp sponge. Think of pulling the ink out, not scrubbing. Not rinsing. If you press hard, your fabric will absorb the ink and too much ink will be in your fabric. This will require you to blot multiple times. Sometimes, I use the pen on a scrap piece of fabric to see if I am using a new one and see how much ink is running out. I prefer these pens a little older and I can draw without too much ink coming out.
I use the fine-line pen for cottons and the thicker line pen for wools or wool felts.
Frixion Pen: This is an ink pen that disappears with a warm dry iron. Very convenient when marking seam lines and stitching lines. There is one draw back, the lines sometimes reappear when your project gets cold. I just re-iron when this happens but it is a bit inconvenient and I have had some really messy lines reappear.
Pencil: This is easy, inexpensive and super handy. But you must again be careful and steady. The lines are difficult to remove. Not fun to try to erase over your stitches. In fact, pretty impossible. Keep a sharpener handy. Best used with tight thread count fabrics.
Pigma Pens: Thin lines, choice of colors, and permanent!! This lines are never going anywhere. But the lines are clear, and covered easily with 2 strands of floss. You will become more confident with your tracing the more you do. I only do a few inches at a time, pull back, breathe and start again. Sometimes even walk away from it to calm my nerves. As soon as I get a few inches done, it feels natural and I love that the markings are clear, thin and it is fun watching them disappear under the threads. I prefer brown tones to blacks for my tracings. I need to add these to my "Favorite Necessities" category.
Chalk Pencils: These are getting better and better. Multiple colors - white works great on darker fabrics. But, they break off easily, thick lines are a potential problem, and rub off with handling. The waxy chalks last longer but can be an issue to remove fully. Companies are making some thin ones (think of a pigma pen line) but these do break off. Multiple tries are needed to perfect and get used to using these. I love them for sewing work, straight lines, markings, etc.. They are a lot for tracing an embroidery pattern. And do not perform as well in loose weaves.
Iron-On Pencils: These are handy for multiple tracings. If you know you are going to do a pattern more than once, these are wonderful. Again, neat lines are required. They do not remove with water. Careful placement is required. So frustrating to find out you have misplaced your iron on. But, they do work multiple times. So this can be worth the effort.
Trace the back of the pattern, then place paper on to your fabric and iron to your fabric. Repeat up to 3 x successfully.
I used to use these in the 70's and 80's. Great for young beginners. The flipped/reversed aspect of letters does present some thought. Always trace from the back to remedy this.