Felt a home business with alpaca fleece. You don't have to own an alpaca to make money in this growing industry. Felting is an inexpensive way to start a home business.

Felting is easy and quick to learn. Take some raw fleece, warm water, and soap, add a little pressure and there you go, you have felt. Once you learn the felting technique, you will only be limited by your imagination.

Why alpaca instead of sheeps' wool? A finer fleece such as alpaca makes clothing items nicer to wear. It's soft to touch and doesn't have the "prickle factor" like when sheeps' wool contacts your skin and makes you itch. Childrens sensitive skin will be less likely to get a rash with finer fleece. Felting is faster, too. It's, also, lighter in weight and warmer.

To felt a home business, try these six ideas using alpaca fleece:

• Felt seamless slippers and/or baby booties. There are lots of general books available that will teach you how to make a template for seamless slippers. Add unique decorations to complete the slipper. Baby booties can be made the same way.

• Felt hats. You can purchase hat shapers to mold the felt. Hat shapers come in all different styles. Fedoras, cowboy hats, and ball caps can all be made using hat shapers. You can find hat shapers by searching the internet. Or you can flat felt pieces, cut out patterns, and sew winter hats together.

• Felt lightweight scarves. Make them to match your hats and sell them as a set.

• Make felt storyboards. Come up with a unique childrens story and make a felt board with characters to tell the story. Or sell a storyboard kit so moms and children can make their own stories come to life.

• Make hair accessories. Get supplies to make barretts' from a craft store, make felt shapes and glue to the barretts' for little girls. For teenagers, make hair scrunchies from felt. The wilder, the better.

• Felt toys. You can felt flat pieces and cut out patterns that you sew together to make teddy bears, etc. Stuff the toys with lesser quality alpaca fleece for the extra soft and cuddly factor.

You might gear your business towards items for children. People love to purchase things for their kids.

Search the internet or ebay to find raw alpaca fleece to purchase. Bags of raw fleece are cheaper to buy than carded batts, but the fleece must be carded before felting most projects. You can buy hand carders and card the fleece yourself. Carding is not difficult.

Once your felt items are ready for sale, put them on ebay or find local outlets to sell them. Craft shows are another good place to sell unique items.

Research, find a need, fill that need, and then enjoy felting your way to a successful home business with alpaca fleece. Good luck!