Korean hard felt is a nope, alas
I tried a LodeStar ornament in Korean hard felt as an alternative to the metallic felt. Korean hard felt is a synthetic felt that is dense, slightly stiff, but still soft looking. While I do like the look of the finished ornament and it does yield nice clean points, alas, I do not recommend using it for this pattern. I wore out my fingers and my patience trying to embroider through it. It puts up quite a fight.
Unless you have strong hands. Maybe I just have wimpy hands? I thought I’d post my results here in case you had the same thought about trying it. I’m sure it’s aces for machine sewing. It’s used a lot to make colorful quiet books for kids.
Korean hard felt:
PROS: Not expensive (about $1.25US per sheet), won’t shrink or bleed, makes crisp looking stars, easy to cut, the matte finish adds a charming folk look
CONS: Colors are pretty limited, pretty difficult to hand embroider and hand sew, not as luxe looking as metallic wool felt
(The pink/champagne metallic LodeStar Ornament you see here is made from Benzie Design wool felts and the color guide is here.)
Thank you very much for letting us know that. Sometimes in the interest of saving money, I will be tempted to use a cheaper product but it never works out well for me! Benzie felts are so awesome, they really add to the quality of your ornaments!
I had great hopes for it, but nope! I’m glad to save folks the trouble and the sore fingers. 🙂