Icelandic Felted Fleece Rug ‘Maris’ – Handcrafted in Wales

A gorgeous Icelandic felted fleece made with the whole fleece of Maris the sheep. It is a good size rug with shiny silky locks that are a very pretty warm cream and beige colour. Featuring thick warm natural wool felt on the underside this rug is wonderfully thick and durable. The felt features a unique pretty design created from handspun wool yarn that complements Maris’ pretty fleece and features her name needle felted into the felt. It would make a very stylish floor rug and also has enough flexibility to be draped across a large chair or sofa. Because it is soft and light weight it is also suitable to use as a throw and would look stunning placed upon a bed. These felted fleeces also make superb special meditation mats. The natural wool provides a warmth and comfort that is unrivaled.

The rug: This Icelandic felted fleece rug is a very pretty cream and golden beige colour. Handcrafted using the whole of Maris’ fleece and backed with wool from other sheep in the flock. The fleece is a medium/light weight and the fleece itself is soft to touch. The rug itself is a medium size natural shape. The backing felt is wonderfully thick and features a unique design made from handspun yarn. This design is carefully created prior to felting so it becomes one with the fleece during the felting process. Maris’ name was needle felted on at the end as a finishing touch. The fleece itself is soft and light with shorter lightly brushed wool down the central spine and longer wilder, more hair like locks on the rear, edges and front of the fleece.

The sheep: Maris is a cheeky little pure bred Icelandic sheep. Daughter of Sven and Spud. She is incredibly clever and crafty, a proper little character.

The process: This rug has been made with the whole of Maris’ fleece from her 2024 annual haircut. Maris grew a particularly beautiful and large fleece that year. Carded wool from some of our other sheep including Marmalade, Muffin, Martha, Sorrel, and Pip is placed on the back and then handspun yarn is arranged upon this to create the abstract pattern. Everything is then felted by hand to become one. It is made with a lot of care and time entirely by hand. Working the felt slowly like this makes for a much stronger even smooth felt. No felting machines or rollers are used to speed up the process nor washing machines or driers.  This is a completely handmade product every element has been created by my hands and the flock at our farm in Wales – from shearing the sheep to washing and carding and spinning the wool to the felting process itself. Made as naturally and as nature-friendly as possible. The sale of this item directly sustains the sheep it pays for their feed and upkeep of the land and barns enabling the flock to live long happy lives here munching away and growing wonderful wool.

Details:

Size: Measurements taken on the fluffy fleece side. The rug is a natural irregular sheepskin shape it measures approx 110-130cm in length and 90-100cm approx in width with the narrowest measurements at the neck and places where the fleece draws in and the widest parts being across the middle and rear leg area.

Wool texture: The feel of this fleece is soft and silky.  Icelandic fleeces are very light weight and very fine dual coated wool. Meaning they have a woolly under coat and long hairy guard hairs that shed water and protect the sheep from the weather. Though they look wild and hairy they are actually soft and very fine and not coarse fleeces.

Colour: Predominantly natural warm cream colour. With some golden beige and tan tones with a gorgeous natural shine/lustre. Maris’ fleece has slightly darker edged and beige/tan roots that fade to cream. The back of the rug is a mix of cream, beige, brown/tan colours and much darker than the fleece side. Please see all photos of the rug in different lighting conditions.

Hair loss: Medium – there is a little loss of hair which is normal with dual coated Icelandic fleeces. All felted fleeces moult or shed to some degree some more than others. Moulting typically lessens over time.

VM(aka hay/grass seeds etc):  Minimal. As always you may find the odd wisp of hay or grass seed from the Welsh Hillside within the fleece and felt I have done my best to remove the ones I came across. There may be the odd bit of hay deep in the spine/center of Maris’ fleece but they are few and far between. This is a natural item gently made by hand and sheep. There is a whole story behind it! The wool it is made from has spent a whole year outside growing on a sheep. It’s been through a lot, it’s seen a lot, it’s kept a sheep warm and dry and even cool at times.. its probably been dragged through a hedge (or two!), splattered with mud at some point, sprinkled with hay at another and rolled around in the spring clover as it naturally started to rise and break away from its 4 legged creator and I got my shears out – all that and the wool still looks beautiful.. none the worse for wear.. isn’t wool amazing!

Fleeces naturally get washed during the felting process and then they all get a proper wash or two after they are felted so they are thoroughly clean and smell divine. They are left to dry in the open air or sometimes draped beside the stove in winter. I am passionate about keeping things natural and energy use to a minimum when making my woollen crafts. Hence I do not wash fleeces in a washing machine or use a tumble drier to dry and fluff them up.

If you have any questions or queries at all please send me a message I will be happy to help.

You can meet Maris and read more about her and her pals here.