When I first started working for Elaine's a few years ago, I discovered a really neat way to greatly enhance the National Nonwovens felt we sell. It is the same product carried by the Joann's stores. Usually a blend of about 35% wool and 65% rayon. the felt is not bad to start with, and it comes in a lot of colors, for about $8 or $9 a yard.
At the store we cut fat quarters in the yardage and then felt them even further. They become really thick and soft to the touch. The material is also much stronger. It's hard to believe when you have the before and after product in hand that they are the same thing. 
The fist step is to wash the felt with very hot water in a clean sink. I am currently making a tree skirt out of the white felt on the picture and will be sure to make some kind of tutorial about it tonight or in the next few days. Once the felt is nice and wet I press as much water as possible out and throw the pieces in the clothe drier on high heat for a while. I remove the felt when it's just short of dry. By this point the felt is really thick and looks crinkled (look at the last picture). It a good idea to press it well right away, but it can also wait a few days. You will want to iron the material vigorously with or without steam to flatten and stretch is back a bit. It will look fuzzy but flat like the picture on top. By that point you are ready to cut out the pieces of your project.
Wow, I have a lot of this stuff and I never thought to re-felt it, what a useful idea! I've been looking for a thicker felt to experiment with on a few projects and now I can use what I have. Thanks so much for posting this!
Posted by: Christina | December 16, 2007 at 07:10 PM
Really great advice here. I will definately give this a try.
Posted by: Betty | January 24, 2008 at 07:54 AM