All right ... finally, my review of Eco Felt!  A million years ago (OK, in June) OnlineFabricStore .net sent me samples of Eco Felt to review.

I created my book protector embroidery out of the Eco Felt to see how it performed.  There are also lots of great questions in the comments of the June post that I'm going to try to answer.

The thickness from color to color is inconsistent.  One of the thinnest colors was the blue I used for the book protector, and it was sturdy enough for the embroidery, so it may not be a problem for many applications.  This is pretty typical of acrylic felt.

The surface texture is also inconsistent.  Some feel buttery soft and others feel a little rough  The white and red were so soft and cuddly that I could imagine using them next to my skin, though.  They were softer than any acrylic felt I've ever encountered.  But most of the things I use felt for, the surface texture doesn't come into play, so again, it may not be a problem for many applications.

I threw a bunch of squares in the wash with some towels.  I wanted to see how it stood up to some extreme circumstances.  Considering that towels are super linty, and my towels aren't the softest, I think the felt held up pretty well.  

There was a little pilling on most of the colors, but the dark brown had no pilling at all.  Amazing!  Any lint you see in the photo is incidental.  It seemed like the softer the felt, the more likely it would pill.  But, again, I'd suggest you hand wash anything with felt on it anyway.  I also know that regular acrylic felt pills after a while even if you don't wash it, so this isn't strange.

As far as ironing it, my guess is "absolutely not."  It's made from plastic, and I'm assuming it would melt all over your iron.  You'll definitely need to use wool felt for iron-on appliques, Marion.

One question I can't answer is whether you can needle felt onto it.  I'm assuming "no" since when you poke the overlay wool onto acrylic, the fibers of the acrylic won't felt and therefore the overlay wool won't stick, but I'm just guessing.  Anyone know the answer to this question?

REVIEW SUMMARY

So, basically, Eco Felt is about the same as regular acrylic felt when you consider it's thickness and softness consistency  and it's performance in the washer,  *but* it's made from recycled soda bottles.  For anyone concerned about the environment, using Eco Felt could be a way to use acrylic felt with less guilt.

Of course, for the fiber snobs out there, there is no substitute for wool felt, but those of us who are allergic and/or on a tight budget, acrylic felt gets the job done ... and colorfully so.