Protect your table and benchtops from hot pots and pans with this colourful trivet. Time to felt up and get rolling!

A DIY pot stand made from felted fleece is a simple and beautiful way to add a cosy textural design element to your kitchen. The balls are made from 100 per cent wool roving – fleece that has been processed but not yet spun into yarn. It’s available in all colours of the rainbow, so choose your favourite hues.

The basic process for making felt balls involves wetting the roving in soapy water then shaping it into balls. You can make a trivet any size or shape – rectangles, circles and squares are all good shapes for hot pots and pans. This design is a perfect square, with seven balls on each side – 49 balls in total – so you need a fair amount of roving as it packs down tightly when wet-felted. Our trivet uses six different colours, which can be bought from specialty online stores or craft shops.

When joining the balls together, use either a hot-glue gun as a quick option or a long doll’s needle and heavy-duty thread, such as Gutermann top-stitch thread, to string them together. (If kids are involved, they will need careful supervision at this stage.)

MATERIALS

– about 240g of Merino or Corriedale wool roving for wet felting (our balls are approximately 3cm in diameter – if your balls are larger, you may need
more wool)
– bar of soap
– hot and cold water (best done beside a sink)
– hot-glue gun or needle and thread

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Take a small strip of roving and roll it tightly into a ball. You will get a feel for how much wool you require, depending on the size of the balls you make. Your dry ball should be about twice the size of the finished wet-felted ball.

Step 2. Wet slightly in hot water and rub a small amount of soap onto the ball’s surface.

Step 3. Gently roll the ball in the palms of your hands, so the roving begins to felt. Do this for about 5 minutes. The ball will become smaller. Wet it under the hot tap a couple of times during this process (to remove some of the soap suds and to keep the wool warm). When the ball is the shape and size you want, and the wool has hardened (you don’t want the ball to be soft and squishy), squeeze out the suds, then rinse under the cold tap. If the ball is not yet the right shape or size, add more hot water and a little soap and continue to roll in your palms.

Step 4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 until you have enough balls for your trivet. Leave the balls in a warm spot to dry. This may take a couple of days.

Step 5. Once dry, set out in the pattern you desire, then glue or stitch together.