Wool vs. Acrylic vs. Polyester felt

 I love making with felt. It's my favourite thing to use when making anything. When I first started to use felt, I wasn't aware of the types you could buy, and only knew of acrylic, which was easily accessable to me and very affordable. However, as I grew to learn more about myself as a maker, I realised that there were other felts available; these being wool and polyester.

I wanted to talk about my personal experience with each type of felt, and the pros and cons that come with them, so starting with the one I was the most familiar with from the start; acrylic.

Food projects that were made using acrylic felt (pictured; Blue box with cornflakes bowl, red cola can with cola bottles on the front, purple juice pouch with an apple decal)

I've made a lot of felt foods with this felt. Since I believed it was all that was available, I just stockpiled as much as I could and would make pretty much everything with it. When I had an Etsy shop about 8-9 years ago, I would make and sell felt jewellery using this material. At the time I really enjoyed using it, but there were of course some issues I would come across.

The pros to acrylic first off; 

• Definitely the price. If you can get multi packs, they save you even more, and you can get a nice selection of most colours available. It is cheaper than other felts, and in a lot of cases, easier to get ahold of; I would visit the Range for mine since they were 50p for an A4 sheet, or around £2.50 for a large pack of most colours, though if you wanted the pastels, you would have to get those seperate.
• The colours are super bright and vibrant, meaning that any projects will look really beautiful with it, especially for children; they have ranges of neons and pastels, as well as black and white felts, so if you are looking to do something that uses alot of bright colours, then these will be more than ideal.
• Its a very beginner friendly material! If you are looking to start working with felt, this is definitely worth getting as it being affordable as mentioned above, it means you can really experiment, and also use scrap to test out different stitching methods; blanket stitch is very popular for felt, however I prefer back stitching (which I will talk about in a future post!)
• This is definitely a felt for the little ones; it makes for fun projects, and if you are looking to make some interactive play for children, it's a perfect choice for making things like foods or quiet books.
• It stitches beautifully, and keeps the shape you want with it being soft and flexible enough to work with.

Now for the cons;

• Lack of colour choice; even though there is a lovely range of colours available in this type of felt, you will find it hard to get specific shades, unless you hunt around for them, in which case they usually come in limited amounts and with colours you may not necessarily need. This also means that you'll usually need to spend a little more just for that one sheet.
• Acrylic felt gets very fuzzy over time; if you are handling acrylic felt often, especially with plushies or other toys, you'll notice it starts to become fuzzy, in some cases bobbling a little. This doesn't happen too often, as long as you take good care of it, but it can make the felt feel a little rough and not as nice to handle.
• Can tear and fray quite easily, especially if cutting out intricate shapes. This type of felt prefers larger shapes.

Projects that I have made using wool felt (pictured, blue, pink and white sprinkle donuts)

The felt that I primarily use now is wool. This is my favourite felt, mostly for its soft texture and rich range of colours. While it is a little pricier, it is a go to for special projects, and is also another good choice for childrens toys. Wool felt can come in both 100% and mixed with polyester, but both are perfectly fine either way.

Pros

• Has a much wider colour range, with varying shades of every colour, so you can really push your imagination to the limits. 
• Much softer in texture, and has a premium feel to it, making it a popular choice for projects, especially for childrens toys and even collectable items. The wool also has a weightiness to it, making it easier to work it when making unusual shapes.
• Despite being more expensive than acrylic, it is still affordable, and there are small businesses that will offer discounts off multiple sheets purchased.
• Will still look and feel wonderful even after a long time and with use.
• Withstands high heats, which means it can be gently pressed with an iron if there are creases. This also makes wool felt the best choice if making drinks coasters.
• Can be stiffened for projects; I don't know any methods myself, so I'd recommend looking up stiffening felt for how to's if you would like to try this out.
• Can be bought in A4 sheets or per meter off a roll

Cons

• Doesn't do well with being in damp or places with high humidity, however washing it is fine as long as it is by hand in warm water, and then dried naturally.
• Is harder to find than acrylic felt, and so makes it less accessable, unless you are locally by a craft store or seller who has wool felt available
• Can sometimes fray a little at the edges, but nowhere near as much as acrylic, as this rarely happens as long as you are treating the felt with care.
• Not ideal of course for those with wool allergies

A project that was made using polyester felt (pictured, a green donut with white spider webs, plump strawberries and red speckled wings)

Polyester is the last of the felts that I have personally worked with, and know of. It is an interesting texture, being very different from its wool and acrylic counterparts. It feels much thicker and finer in the fibres, making it best for decals and details that may be more intricate. Pictured above is a piece I made using just polyester felt, which demonstrates its qualities and highlights some issues I came across when working with it.

Pros

• Vibrant and lovely range of colours, with neons and pastels available 
• Cuts beautifully, with no risk of frayed edges 
• Excellent for decals, fine details and works great alongside wool felt if you are looking for a highly decorated finish
• Sews extremely well, despite being thicker in texture

Cons

• Does not work well as a complete substitute for wool, however details are fine, so if looking to create something that contains no wool, polyester and acrylic may be the best choices
• While it does have a good range of colours, like acrylic, it does like in the range of shades that wool has to offer; if this were to change in the future, it would definitely make a difference, particularly to those who cannot use wool.
• It is a very stiff felt, so making plushies will cause the felt to pucker quite a bit (as pictured above, I used polyester felt for the main body, and after filling, the felt pulled in quite a lot) However if this doesn't bother you too much, then it may work just fine.

Hopefully this has been inciteful enough, especially if you are new to felt and wanted to get the rundown on what to buy. Personally, I think all of these options are perfectly fine and will give you the results you need, depending on what it is you plan to make. 

The all-polyester donut is actually listed in my shop, if you would like to give it a loving home! You can find it here;

https://folksy.com/thewingeddonut