Icelandic Felted Sheepskin ‘Dash’ – Zebra Pattern – Handcrafted in Wales

This gorgeous wild Icelandic felted fleece seat pad has been made using parts of Dash’s 2023 fleece. This reversible seat pad features a beautiful handcrafted zebra pattern design on the backing felt. Sometimes called ‘vegetarian sheepskins’ or ‘felted fleeces’ this is a sheep-friendly craft handmade from only natural wool.

The rug/seat pad: This blue grey seat pad is made with the prettiest parts of Dash’s fleece. They have been arranged together in a lovely natural irregular shape. Dash’s fleece is a mix of different slate grey colours from almost white through to blue slate tones and blue-black tips. It is wonderfully lush and cosy. The backing felt is thick yet soft and features a beautiful zebra pattern design. The pattern is achieved by carefully laying out the design prior to felting so it becomes one with the fleece and creates a marvelously thick, warm and beautiful reverse for the beautiful fleece. It is light-medium weight, the fleece and felt are not as heavy as most and so this fleece works really well as a seat cover on a bench or sofa. It’s also equally at home as a little rug ideal for a bedroom or cosy sitting room. If you are looking for a special seat pad or fleece to bring with you on walks into the wilderness to keep your bottom cosy when you stop and sit down to rest then this little fleece would be perfect to roll up and strap to a backpack. I have one of these large seat pads myself and can vouch firsthand how wonderful they are and how they work really well to sit upon on either side.

The sheep: Dash is a tiny little 3/4’s Icelandic sheep. She might be small but she has the most fluffy big fleece for her size. Icelandic wool is famous for being lightweight and incredibly warm. It has incredible water-repelling properties and dries much faster than most wool/fleeces. The wool used for the backing felt and zebra pattern design from other sheep in our flock 🙂

The process: This seat pad has been made by carefully selecting and arranging the best and prettiest parts of Dash’s fleece from 2023 shearing. Carded wool from some of our other sheep is placed on the back and then the zebra pattern is carefully arranged upon this. 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 dries.  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: This little felted fleece sheepskin rug is an irregular shape at its largest it measures approx 83cm in length and 62cm at its widest down to 36 at the narrower ends with these measurements taken on the reverse.

Wool texture: The feel of this fleece is medium soft and hairy.  Some of Dash’s fleece is very soft and other parts are rougher, the felt on the back is lovely and soft but some of the guard hairs from the fleece do poke through and these can make it feel itchy to sensitive people not used to wool.

Colour: Natural slate blue-grey ranging from near white to near black.

Hair loss: Minimal – there is a little loss of hairs which is normal. All felted fleeces moult or shed to some degree some more than others. Moulting typically lessens over time.

VM(aka hay/grass seeds etc): Few and far between with this item. But 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. 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 Dash and read more about her and her pals here.