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Felt is one of the oldest forms of fabric known to man. It predates weaving and knitting and dates back to at least 6,500 BC. Felt is made by a process called wet felting, where natural wool, soap, water, and a little elbow grease are used to create the fabric. Fulling differs from felting as the fabric is constructed (knitted, crocheted, or woven) before continuing with the felting process. Needle felt is created using barbed needles that mesh the fibers together. Many varieties of hand-felting needles and holders are available and hand needle felting has been popular for many years. Needle-felting machines and attachments are now available to the consumer.

When wet felting piqued my interest about six or seven years ago, I was able to immerse myself in two of my favorite things, fiber and color. I began to contemplate needle felting by hand, as it seemed the next natural step to enhance my new felt "fabric." When I heard that a needle-felting machine would soon be available, I patiently waited for its introduction.

A needle-felting machine is simple: several barbed needles, a motor, and no thread. It works by meshing fibers together. An unexpected benefit is that since no setup is involved, you can be more productive with small increments of available time. Using a machine to needle felt provides an opportunity to add another dimension to projects for fiber artists, quilters, scrapbookers, embroiderers, those who knit or crochet, as well as mixed-media artists.

The first project on my new machine was to needle felt a square of red hand-dyed cotton onto a larger piece of cotton batting with a piece of muslin underneath. I then began surrounding the red square with other red quilting cottons, mosaic-style, and soon it began to resemble a Crazy-quilt piece. To cover the raw edges, I used a variegated red-and-pink ribbon yarn in tones similar to the red fabric. When the yarn "was needle felted over the raw edges, I decided this would be a rose garden of sorts, so I developed "Her Majesty" pinwheel roses (see page 13 for "Fanciful Techniques"). About this time, I spied my wide hand-dyed silk ribbon in a coordinating green, and was delighted at how it ruched so sweetly and delicately. I kept adding more fibers until I had a large piece of fabric that was begging me to become the back of a vest. The vest front consists of the red hand-dyed cotton embellished more simply with the same variegated ribbon yarn, touches of the silk ribbon, and, of course, those pinwheel roses. I introduced beads to add sparkle, and for the closure, I covered a button using the same fabric with another pinwheel rose. I encourage you to take your own creative journey and note what you learn.