Review: LifeGlow Felt

I love making felt pieces for flannelboards. I've only made a few so far since my job as a youth services librarian only just started, but I'm seriously excited to make new felt pieces every week. I know in time I'll build a big library of different flannelboards, but for now making them is a weekly occurrence as I make things to fit new themes. In the future, I'll do a write-up of my process if anyone is interested, but today I'm just going to talk about felt!

Review

Not all felt is created equal. I do sometimes use the felt that comes in rectangles at Michael's or JoAnn. If I need a color and need it right away, there aren't many other options. However, the quality of felt from most craft stores leaves a lot to be desired. It's pretty stiff and scratchy. Stiffness, I'll admit, can be a benefit when trying to cut out complex shapes, but it does make the pieces much less nice to handle. I am on the lookout for somewhere where I can buy individual sheets that are nice and soft, but if you are in the market for a variety pack, Amazon has got you covered with a pack of 40 different colors by a company called LifeGlow.


The company sells two different types of felt which they list as A and B. The reviews on the product are for both types and a lot of people who ordered the B type seem disappointed with it because it is stiff. As I mentioned before, stiffness can work well for some projects, but it's not what I want for flannelboards. If you prefer a stiff felt, type B is probably great for you! The type A, however, is lovely and soft. It is also quite thick and opaque. If you glue a very light color like white on top of a black piece, there will be some of the darker color showing through, but it has much better coverage that the craft felt I have purchased at Michael's. The cost per piece comes to a little more than 50 cents, which is a bit higher than the 40 cents per piece that the Michael's in my area charges. However, not only is the quality better, but the pieces are larger, being 12 inch squares rather than 12 x 9 rectangles. I have two complaints about the felt. First, though there was a huge variety of light peach tones to use for skin colors and a decent number of dark browns, there were very few mid-range skin tones. I did have to hit up Michael's for a nice mid-tone brown. Second, it doesn't seem to be possible to buy single sheets or even a small pack of one color from the company, either via Amazon or on their company website. I go through some colors much more quickly than others. I would love to be able to buy individual color packs for the ones I use on a regular basis!

Summary

Type A felt produced by LifeGlow and available for purchase on Amazon comes in a wide range of pleasing colors and is a nice soft and thick felt to use for flannelboard creations. It is vastly superior to the individual craft felt sheets available at most craft stores and I would highly recommend it for anyone who needs felt in a large range of colors for different projects.