How To Glue Felt: Best Glues And Methods

Felt is such a fun material to craft with, but it can bet tricky to choose the right adhesives that won’t peel, or soak through. Let me share the best adhesive that worked for me on a variety of materials and tips on how to glue felt together easily

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase an item via these links, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The Best Glues for Sticking Felt to Felt

Let’s start with how to glue felt onto another piece of felt. Choose a thick craft glue that grips well. A hot glue gun or a more permanent adhesive like E6000 will also work.

My favorite is this Aleene’s tacky glue made specifically for felt and foam. This glue is SUPER thick compared to regular white craft glue and doesn’t soak through or look wet on the surface.

NOTE: Regular PVA glue won’t work, you need this thicker tackier glue to create that strong hold.

Here I have Die Cut Felt into a few different shapes and layered them easily with just a dot of the tacky glue.

How to glue felt together:

• Add a small dot of glue to just one felt piece.
• Let the glue dry for a minute.
• Press both pieces firmly together
• Hold for a few seconds
• Let it dry flat for the strongest bond

Using too much glue can seep through the fibers, while too little won’t hold the layers together.

How to Glue Felt with Hot Glue?

A hot glue gun is one of the quickest ways to glue felt. I use it all the time when I want fast results especially for kids’ craft projects, flowers, or a felt flower wreath, Apply a small dot of hot glue and work quickly.

Pros: Fast, strong, and dries almost instantly.
Cons: You need an outlet handy, and melted glue can get stringy if you’re working on tiny shapes. Also burning your finger tips if you are not careful.

I like using a hot glue gun for bigger projecrs like a DIY felt wreath where it would take too much time and patience to wait for glue to dry.

I had cut an enormous amount of peacock feathers one year to make this adorable peacock cardboard halloween costume for my daughter, and I used hot glue to quickly adhere and layer everything.

I love how this Pencil Case DIY turned out using hot glue to hold everything together!

If you want to think out of the box, and skip the adhesives all together, try a stapler! To make these felt organizing trays, I just stapled felt together, and it worked like a charm! There are many ways how to glue felt, choose what works best for you.

Does Fabric Glue E6000 work on felt?

I have used E6000 Fabric Fuse in my previous unicorn book cover tutorial and yes, it does work! Make sure you buying the Fabric Fuse version . You will need to apply the glue on both of the felt pieces for best adhesion. They’re stronger than tacky glue but take longer to dry.

How to Glue Felt to Paper, Cardboard, or Wood

To glue felt to wood and other non porous surfaces, I’ve used the same Aleene’s Felt and foam tacky glue. I adhered all the felt succulents on a wood frame and then tucked the leaves around the edges.

If your project involves mixed materials like gluing felt onto paper, or cardboard, you can use a lighter liquid glue instead of tacky glue. You wont go wrong with the super tacky glue, but if all you have are lighter glues, that will be a good fit here as well.

For these toddler Felt Faces I used a clear Mono Aqua glue to adhere felt to cardboard.

To make felt strawberry coasters, I used a basic white liquid glue itself and applied it generously onto the felt. You could use a brush to paint the glue on as well.

While talking about how to glue felt, let’s not skip the spray adhesive. This is a great option to adhere larger felt or fabric pieces to cardboard like I did while making this rainbow kid costume for my daughter. It is quick and adheres well, just make sure to use it in a well ventilated area, and not in your basement like I did 🙂

Should You Sew Instead of Glue?

Sometimes gluing is perfect… but other times stitching wins. Especially if you are making something that needs to be washed or is going to be used frequently.

While making these felt coasters and stuffed felt hearts I reinforced the seams with a quick running stitch. This adds such a beautiful finishing touch!

Tips On How To Glue felt

Here are a few things that make a big difference while figuring out how to glue felt.

• Test your glue first. Every felt is a little different — especially acrylic vs. wool
• Skip the nozzle. The tacky felt glue is really thick and I found that sometimes it does not come out easily out of the bottle nozzle. I was scared to press too hard and have glue squirt everywhere and ruin my project. So I opted to use a toothpick at times and scoop out the glue onto the felt.
• Use small amounts. Felt absorbs glue, so a thin layer works best.
• Press the layers together. You want the fibers to mesh before the glue dries. You might need to hold it in place for 60 seconds for best results.
• Let it fully dry. Rushing this step can cause layers to lift later.

conclusion

Learning how to glue felt opens up so many easy and fun craft possibilities. Whether you’re using tacky glue, hot glue, or fabric glue, each method has its place and once you get the hang of it, felt becomes one of the easiest materials to work with.

Have fun crafting, and tag me @smithakatti if you try a new felt project!