Hi Creative Mamas! I am super excited to share with you a list of the best felting books (according to me).
These books have been super instrumental for myself in the process of learning how to felt wool in various different ways. Wet felting is my favorite and I love combining felting with embroidery as well.
I have a passion for wool and I love handling different types of wool roving, carded and uncarded wool and all types of yarns.
Felting has been a wonderful way to explore wool and it has also allowed me to experiment with naturally dyeing wool roving in many different ways.
Below is the list of these books as well as a little personal and honest review 🙂 I love sharing the books that I use and that are useful to me. You may also like to see my best natural dyeing books list here.
Felting guide
The Complete Photo Guide to Felting, by Ruth Lane
This Guide is just simply amazing! If you are a felting beginner and not sure where to start or what kind of felting to do, this is the book for you.
It has a section on wool varieties as well as other fibers that felt. this is followed by a section on how to prepare and get ready for projects.
It covers traditional wet felting, nuno and laminate felting as well as needle felting.
It’s a fantastic resource for any aspiring and practicing felter. The best part is that it’s photographed and all steps are documented which make for super east step by step instructions.
Some of the projects inside this book include: needle felted animals, needle feted artwork, machine needle felting and different ways to wet felt wool fabric.
Felting for beginners
First Time Felting, by Ruth Lane
This is an absolute beginners guide which is very similar to the previous book by Ruth but a smaller version of it.
It also covers needle felting, wet felting and nuno felting and has lovely projects throughout the book.
It’s also fully photographed which makes it really easy to understand the processes described. This is a great first book to buy if you are wondering if felting is for you.
Wet Felting
Fabulous Felted Scarves, by Chad Alice Hagen and Jorie Johnson
This is a fabulous book. It’s a great resource if you want to learn the art of wet felting. Written by two incredible wet felters they each describe their processes which are different and innovative.
They both teach different projects which include all different ways of felting scarves. The projects range from easy to advanced and the instructions are clear and easy to understand.
Highly recommend this one if you want to discover the possibilities of wet felting.
My husband gave me this book for Christmas 2020 and I am still going through the different wet felting techniques described in this book! I learn something new every time I start a new project in the book 🙂
Nuno Felting
Nuno felting is in a category of it’s own and this book does a good job of explaining this felting technique really well.
A great way to create texture combining wool roving with other fabrics, this books’ projects include scarves, blankets, shawls and tote bags.
Needle Felting
Needle Felting ducks, dragons, cats, minis, and much more, by Liza Adams
This book does a great job of explaining all materials and equipment needed for needle felting projects as well as teaching fun projects.
These include beginners projects such as curled up critters, a tabby cat, little pots filled with felted mushrooms and my favorite: a needle felted doll.
Felting Flowers
Felting Fabulous Flowers, by Gillian Harris
This is a wonderful little book which describes the process to make 30 different types of felted flowers.
The book is divided into the different colored flowers and some flowers are easy while others require more advanced techniques.
My favorite flowers in this book are: Gerbera, Cosmos and lily.
It comes with the templates needed to create the flowers.
Felting Fashion
Felting Fashion, by Lizzie Houghton
This book teaches you different ways to make fashion items by using different methods of felting.
The projects include hats, jackets, scarves, vest tops and a full skirted coat. This is a fantastic book for advanced felters who want to expand their knowledge and skills.
I hope these book reviews are useful to you and get you inspired to try felting.
Felting is very therapeutic for me and there are so many different ways to approach it that it never gets boring! I am currently devoting some time to needle felting projects and with a variety of wool fibers.
Felting and natural dyes
I love naturally dyeing wool roving before I felt it as well as dyeing the already felted fabric. If you want to explore felting in combination with natural dyes here are some tutorials for you to check out:
- The ultimate guide to natural dyeing, what you need to know
- Beginner’s Guide to Natural Dyes for Fabric and Yarn
- The Beginners Guide to Solar Dyeing
- Top 10 Natural Dyeing Tips
Felting and fabric collage
Felting can be applied to fabric collage as well. you can create beautiful fabric books and fabric journals and use your felting appliques as part of the collage.