Can I save this camel down tote?

[ronir]

Does camel down felt? I made a tote bag of camel down and after finishing it I noticed that the fiber was coming off. I brushed it with a wire "flicker" and a lot came off, now it is patchy and hairy.

Do you have any suggestions for saving this project, I have a lot of camel down in it.

Roni

[Suzanne Pufpaff]

It sounds like the tote needs more felting.
Camel down does felt, but it takes more to get it to a stable product than it does wool.
It also sounds like you don't have just down in your product. If its brushing out that much, it probably still has quite a bit of the hair in it too.
That will also slow down the felting process.
Wet and soap it down, put a resist between the layers, add more fiber were it is weak and roll it up in a net or whatever you usually use and work it for twice as long as you think it needs.
Then test the fabric by seeing if you can move the fibers when you roll the fiber between your thumb and forefinger. If you can, felt it some more.
Good luck
Sue P

[ronir]

Tlhank you for your advise.

I have gone over it with fine needles and added wool for a sort of pattern and it seems better. I had worked it with 36 needles and maybe that was part of the problem.

The wet felting sounds like a good idea to finish it off and make sure that it is stable.

It actually is very, very soft and silky, I don't think there is any hair in it.

Have you ever used merino top? This is acting the same way. I've often wondered if the merino top is treated with something that makes it resist feltling.

Thanks again. I'll send a picture of the tote now and then after wet felting. But not today, we are having a snow storm and shearing out romney sheep today, if the shearer makes it. They are within 2 weeks of lambing so we really want to do it today as opposed to next week. Ohio weather is so unpredictible.

Roni

[Suzanne Pufpaff]

If you are trying to consider a felt piece finished when you are just needle felting it, you will never have a satisfactory result with fine fibers.
It is physically impossible to tangle all those fine fibers together enough just using needles. They MUST be finished (think fulled) using soap and water.
The fibers will never hold together enough without that step and they will always fall apart.
Merino top makes an absolutely wonderful wet felt that holds together forever, but it needs to be wet felted.
Even in industry where the felting needle came from, all products were finished with a wet felting process before being considered complete.
Sue P