What is Nuno Felting?

Nuno Felting is a wet felting technique that infuses an open weave fabric (silk in my case) with fine merino or mixed fibers, making an ultra-light combined, new textile that is strong, breathes and provides the opportunity of making seamless garments that can be worn reversibly (wool or silk on the outside).

I make two different styles of Nuno Felting - one is like an open-faced sandwich, with 1 layer of silk & 1 layer of fibers; the second is like a grilled cheese sandwich (Scarves & Garments), with 2 layers of silk with a layer of fibers in between (Shawls & Jackets). Both of these styles of Nuno Felting provides a wonderful surface for adding embellishments/ surface patters and construction versatility.

It takes a long time to Nuno Felt garments. A pattern is made, silk hand dyed and then cut and shaped, fibers laid out, fibers locked in (photo), felting, fulling, rinsing, blocking & ironing. I love all the stages of this magical process, which takes advantage of the shrinkage of the fibers after they penetrate the silk... but my favorite, to my total surprise, is the final stage of ironing, because it all comes together & the surface of the new textile is so soft and lovely... AND then when someone tries it on and falls in love, too, this is THE BEST!