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Woven woolen cloth was not ready to wear—it was loose, thin, prone to stretching. Fulling transformed raw cloth into dense, warm fabric.
The Process:
Fulling involved pounding wet wool cloth—the agitation caused the fibers to mat together, shrinking the cloth by as much as half, creating dense fabric that was windproof, water-resistant, and much warmer than unfulled cloth.
Traditional fulling was done by foot—the cloth was soaked in warm water (sometimes with urine, which provided ammonia that aided felting), then stomped rhythmically for hours.
This was communal work—multiple people fulling together, singing work songs to maintain rhythm, sharing the exhausting labor.
The Transformation:
The fulled cloth was dramatically different from raw weaving—thicker, denser, softer. The individual threads became indistinguishable, melded into unified fabric. Fulled wool was the material that made Celtic clothing functional in harsh climates.
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