Prefelt Rug Workshop with Nomadic Design

In Kyrgyzstan, when a daughter got married, her mother and relatives felted a rug for her. Using their ancient symbols they felted her best wishes and good luck into the rug that stayed with her for the rest of her life. In this workshop, you’ll create a felted rug (finished size approximately 3×5’ or 90×150 cm) with the instructor’s pre-felt technique, inspired by the several hundred-year-old symbols or creating your very own.

A basic understanding of wet felting is helpful. Creating a wet-felted rug requires good physical condition.

Please register by July 7^th to allow time for instructor’s wool order and to avoid disappointment!

Skills and Techniques:

• Learn about the traditional symbols and techniques of the felted nomad rugs
• Gain understanding of various kinds of wool that fit this project to create structural felt (we’ll work with batts, approximately 21-31 micron: Wensleydale, Karakul, Mongolian, Gotland, Bergschaf, South-German, Portugal, Walsh Black Nose etc.)
• Learn how to plan a powerful design
• Make your own prefelt with vertical and horizontal color blending
• Learn the technique for outlining the pattern with a nice contour line
• Discover how to construct and felt a large rug
• Master turning the soft prefelt into a strong and durable felt
• Learn how to shape and control nice edges on a large rug
• Acquire tricks of the trade that make the felting process easier

Materials Fee: Approximately $95 depending on market price at time of workshop. Fee paid directly to the instructor.

Special Tools or Equipment to bring:

• notebook, pen/pencil for notes
• 1 ball-point pen
• 2 hand towels
• sprinkler if you have one to wet the felt
• 1 olive or coconut oil soap bar in a container
• 1 quart bowl for soapy water – very sharp and pointy scissors (like embroidery scissors with 4” blades) are crucial
• 1 box of pins
• 3’ (100 cm) long ruler
• 4×4’ (120×120 cm) cotton sheet (can be used but still strong)
• 2×4’ (60×120 cm) bubble wrap
• 4×7’ (120×220 cm) bubble wrap
• 4×7’ (120×220 cm) cotton sheet (can be used but still strong)
• 4×7’ (120×220 cm) sheer curtain (from a thrift store)
• 1 pool noodle (4 ft long) or alternatively a large bath towel
• 1 sponge to control water

Optional: self-healing mat (2×3’ or 60×90 cm) and a rotary cutter, accent fibers, wool yarn to outline the pattern, (waterproof) apron if needed, comfortable shoes, camera

Workshop and Cancellation Policies: Please be sure to read our 2026 policies before you register for a workshop: https://www.sanbornmills.org/workshop-policies/