Felt or wool applique question
 

I want to make a sweatshirt for a friend for Christmas and I wanting to layer applique flowers on it. My question is this: Do I use wool or felt? This will be washed. I am confused as to whether the craft felt is washable or I should just get wool for the applique pieces? And if I use wool, do I wash it first? Help!

Is there a reason you don't want to use cotton?

I guess I just wanted the texture of the felt or wool. I will be doing it raw edge, not a satin or blanket stitch

Craft felt wouldn't be advisable. Good luck.

I have appliqued with wool on a sweatshirt...I did make sure it was washed first...worked great!

Thanks ! Did you buy washable wool or did you get regular wool? I thought I would have to wash it first!

I would buy washale wool and I would wsh first just to be safe. If you buy reg. wool you must wash first so it can shrink.

You can buy regular wool, but then you need to shrink it before using. Wool fibers have little hooks that grab each other when the wool is agitated in soapy hot water; drying in a hot dryer helps too. You might want to wash and dry a couple of times to make sure you have shrunk it to the max. Once it is treated like this, the cut edges are unlikely to ravel because the wool has been "felted".