Wool felting is the oldest technology of non-woven textile. This simple mechanical process doesn’t require spindles or looms, because the natural animal fibre (wool) becomes a seamless surface — a felt — by pouring hot water, rubbing and pressing. Since felt is an easily degradable material, now it is difficult to determine, what people used it for.
One of the most common felted items was winter boots, worn by everyone from young to old age.
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Another very popular product was kersey. That was a thick woven and fullen fabric, used for warm upper clothes — cloaks, suits, women’s suits, coats and jackets. Its most popular colours were dark green, brown or black. Kersey was especially important during the interwar period, especially in villages. It was also popular during and after the war, when people could hardly afford to buy textiles.
Kersey used to be produced at home by fulling by hands or bare feet in a basin, filled with hot water and buck. This was a hard and slow process, because one could process only a small piece of kersey at a time. After fulling, kersey used to be ironed by wrapping the damp fabric on a rolling pin, sewing up its end, covering it in cloth in order to prevent smearing and then putting it into a hot bread oven. Here the fabric used to dry and straighten out.
During the interwar period people used to bring their kersey for felting into a fulling-mill, referred to veliušis or valiušis. These were usually established near mills or water ponds, because fulling requires lots of water. The busiest time of the year for fullers was autumn. Sometimes they even used to work nights. The amounts of work in spring were not as much and the least work was done in summer, especially with lack of water. Fulling-mills usually did not work in winter.
