A unique Christmas craft: making felt, making dolls

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

Making felt from wool is a very old idea--in fact, felting is one of the oldest textile-making techniques used by humans. Nomadic sheepherders on the plains of Mongolia made their yurts out of felt--and still do.

This holiday season, people can try their hands at the ages-old craft of felting and at the same time make delightful, one-of-a-kind gifts for friends and family. River Song Waldorf School is sponsoring a class for making wool felt dolls on Dec. 3, 1 to 4 p.m., at its school on Hickory Street.

Jennifer Powell, who teaches kindergarten at River Song, will teach the class. She has been making felt dolls for about four years, and they're some of her students' favorite toys. She also makes a personalized felt doll for each child's birthday.

Children treasure these little dolls, Powell said, partly because they're soft and warm and partly because they're handmade. "It's something you don't have much anymore," she said, "handmade toys made by someone who cares about you."

Also, Powell noted, the natural materials in the dolls are inviting to children's senses. Most of the wool used in her classes is plant-dyed, providing softer, more varied colors than synthetic dyes can offer.

Some aspects of the felt dolls are designed to engage children's imaginations. They don't have faces, for instance, so the child can give a doll any emotion that suits at the moment. "It gives the child freedom to invent," Powell said.

In the classroom, Powell uses the dolls as table puppets. When she tells stories from memory, she moves the dolls around to help tell the story, thereby encouraging younger children to make mental pictures and develop their imaginations.

Felting relies on the fact that wool has microscopic barbs on each strand of fiber. When the wool is agitated or heated, the barbs lock together, condensing the volume of the wool and creating a matted texture. That's why a wool sweater, accidentally washed in warm water, shrinks several sizes.

There are many methods for creating felt, including wet and dry techniques. Powell makes her dolls using a dry felting technique. With this method, also called needle felting, she uses a very sharp needle to agitate the wool into felt. When she does felting with her young classroom children, Powell uses a wet technique instead of needles.

To begin, Powell makes a simple form from chenille stems (pipe cleaners). She creates a base shape using wool that has not been dyed, draping the wool over the form and jabbing it dozens of times until the strands hold together. Then, she chooses colored wool and creates "outfits" for the dolls, again using her needle to transform the wool into felt and make it adhere to the base.

The whole process takes Powell about a half hour, but she's had lots of practice.

Powell is looking forward to teaching others the simple craft of making felt dolls. "It's fun to give people the power to create something of their own," she said. "It could inspire people to make toys for their children and grandchildren."

The doll-making class is open to children and adults, ages 9 and up. It will be held at River Song Waldorf School, 309 Hickory St., in north Fort Collins, with a registration fee of $20 per person. For more information or to register, call 407-9185 or 493-5942.