Scarves Part One

I've been into making scarves lately, though I probably carded more wool and ironed more scrim and gauze than I used for making scarves, but I have finished quite a few. This is a white one I made a few weeks ago:

I used 18.5 mic Merino, and Rose fibre for embellishing:

I cut the scarf wider than my template, and scrunch gathered it to size before adding the wool, so it'd have some texture on the back:

I also made a short, wide scarf/wrap similar to the white scarf, using natural cotton scrim and 18.5 mic Merino:

It's about 3 times as wide as the scarf, and I didn't scrunch the scrim first:

I used 3 different cellulose fibres for embellishing this: Viscose, Rose and Tencel, this is the Viscose:

Another scarf I made recently is this bright, colourful one. I always prefer the side where the wispy ends of the wool tops overlap (or underlap since they're laid first) the next colour:

This is the other side where the colours are in blocks:

An 'arty' shot to shop how soft it is :)

I think the multi one is the only scarf I made recently which isn't nuno-felt. This next one was made with 18.5 mic Merino and hand dyed cotton scrim. I embellished this with hand dyed bamboo top:

I cut a strip of subtley variegated lemon/yellow scrim to size, then cut the strip into roughly even pieces and re-arranged them before adding the Merino on top:

I've got a few more scarves to show, so check back before the end of the year to see part two :)

New Felt Diary Cover

Before the black Merino and multi fibre notebook cover I made recently, I'd started to make a greeny blue one for a diary. The first batt I was happy with on my drum carder was blues and greens so I used this for the top layer. As well as Merino, I added some texturey Icelandic wool, and locks of Bluefaced Leicester and Wensleydale that I dyed a few years. I added lots of surface embellishments: silk fabric, cotton gauze, organza, silk top, silk throwster's waste, some synthetic curly fibres and some more of the dyed texturey, curly wools.

It was too large to get a decent clear 'after felting' photo, but this is almost all of it:

This notebook took even longer than the black one as it was the first one I'd made like this, using felt off cuts for the straps and hand sewing all around the edges:

I machine stitched the smaller strip onto the wide closure strip.

And I machine stitched the two pieces onto the back.

But I finished all the edges with blanket stitch.

I kept the natural edge of the felt for the inside front flap, I like the little detail of pink and yellow on the silk at the top.

Grrr! Buttonholes!

It took me a while, but I finally finished the two purses I was working on made from felt with nuno felted strips of cotton gauze. I don't like doing buttonholes, they're so small and fiddly, so I put off doing them. I could practise with the sewing machine, I suppose, but I think I'd just make a mess of it :)  I can't remember now which was the one I first started working on, but this is the first one I finished:

Where possible, I kept the natural edges of the felt. I'm sure to some people this makes it look 'wonky', but I prefer 'unique' :) I bought quite a few new embroidery threads recently, so I had lots of colours to pick the right ones for sewing the different parts.

It actually turned out a lot bigger than I thought, and my chunky camera fits into it! Plenty of room for lots of cash ;)

This is the second one I finished. It's slightly smaller than the first one, but still my slimmer camera fits in easily. They both look very similar to each other, the biggest difference being the natural edge on the flaps. This is the back, with the flap open:

As much as I always want to keep everything I make, I often find it hard to use things I make. It sounds silly, but I hate to 'waste' things, it's that same kind of feeling you get when you have a nice new notebook or journal, and don't want to spoil it by scratchy handwriting and wonky sketches. So, rather than stockpiling things 'too nice to use' in a box, I'm going to put them on etsy. The first thing I listed was a shoulder bag I finished earlier this year:

I made it using spare pieces of felt and offcuts that I saved, and a gorgeous piece of fabric to line the inside flap. It's a flat 'passport' style bag and fits a camera and coin purse comfortably.

I keep being told I shouldn't feel embarrassed or awkward about self-promotion, so if you're interested in either of the purses, the bag or maybe you were thinking of buying a handmade notebook cover or camera case, please visit my etsy store :)  The bag is already listed and once I've measured the purses and weighed them for postage, I'll add those too.
And if you don't see exactly what you want, I'm happy to take commissions for custom orders :)

Weekend Projects

I discovered the other day just how much time it can take to list things on etsy. I thought I'd put together a pack of fabric samples from all the fabrics I used in my e-book, thinking it couldn't take that long, but it did :) I enjoyed going through all my fabric though. I think if I list fabric or fibre supplies again though, I will put together a pack while I'm getting together the fibres for a project, get some extras out and build one up. It might work better like that anyway because I often work on a colour theme and get out similar coloured organzas, silks, embellishment fibres and novelty yarns.

It was nice and tidy once I'd put everything away though (and picked up a load of fabric threads!) so I had a good look through my box of felt pieces to make things with. I had quite a large piece I’d made with black merino and strips of coloured cotton gauze (sometimes called cotton scrim). The back was blues and greens with silk embellishments. I thought it’d make a nice purse or wallet, with two sections. I’ve almost finished it, I just need to add the button and button hole.

I almost used the blue side on the outside, but I'm glad I didn't

Trying out a button:

I cut out some pieces to make another one, and this is almost finished now as well.

I also had time to make this notebook cover from a nuno felted piece I made a while ago:

The silk piece had an unusual pattern, and it made a really nice texture when it was felted.

I'm running out of cotton threads now though, so I might have to have a look at the Rainbow Girl's shop for some more gorgeous hand dyed ones. She sells lots of gorgeous threads and fabric and fibres for felting, including dyed cotton scrim.

My new e-book

It seems like it's been forever in the making, and months since it was actually completed, but the e-book I have been working on is finally available to buy!

Beyond Nuno explores the use of fabrics in the art of making wool felt by the traditional wet-felting method. It features the fabrics most commonly used in felting--silk, organza and the open-weave cottons scrim, cheesecloth and muslin. There are also additional sections on synthetic fabrics and other lightweight cottons.
The book shows how these fabrics work with wool to create certain effects and how they can be used effectively and manipulated with different techniques.

Unlike project based books, the content focuses on how and why these fabrics work the way they do to provide the info you need for more control over the outcome of your nuno felting; how to achieve the effects you desire, and provide a basis for continued experimentation instead of feeling that felting is all just ‘guess-work’.
There are 190 full-colour, high quality photos in the book. Every photo is taken carefully to clearly demonstrate the information in the text. There are also many supermacro shots to show high definition examples of wool fibres and fabric weave to further illustrate the information, and because this is an e-book, all the photos can be enlarged up to 300% for even more detail without losing any quality.

Although nuno felting is seen as an ‘advanced skill’ in felting, I think anyone who has tried felting will find this book very easy to understand and follow. In the introduction, there’s a small step by step demonstration of how I felt, and I’ve included a small glossary at the end to help make things clear.

Hopefully before too long it'll be available to buy straight from my blog, but for now it is available from Craftsy.  http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/felting/beyond-nuno/45714

I really enjoyed making the book and it was hard to stop, there was always something else that was 'vital' and just had to be included!

 I had lots of help and must say some thank-yous. Thank you to my girlfriend for putting up with many mini-meltdowns and for giving me a unique perspective which I think has really helped to make this book different to anything else around. A massive Thank You to Lyn from rosiepink. Lyn has published an excellent e-book, a step by step guide to Creating Felt Artwork, and as well as reading and re-reading endless drafts of my book, gave me lots of invaluable advice about the whole publishing and selling side of things. Thanks, Lyn :)
I must also thank Karen and Ruth. Sorry for all the ranting and moaning, Kaz, and thanks so much for reading through and making sure it was clear and simple. Thank you so much for your thorough proof reading, Ruth, all your suggestions and invaluable insight. Ruth is the author of the fantastic Complete Photo Guide To Felting. Thanks to Pam from the forum for all your help with the Introduction, getting that right really helped make the rest of the book clear. And Thank You to everyone who reads my blog, leaves such nice comments here, on flickr on The Felting and Fiber Studio site and everyone at the Felting and Fiber Forum :)

*** It's now available to download straight from the blog, just click the photo on the top right which says 'Instant Download' underneath, or go to the e-books page.

January Projects

I've been trying to find ways of having a few projects on the go so I can work on them for a few minutes at a time where possible. A few months ago, I posted on the Felting and Fiber Studio site about a couple of felt pieces I'd made with the intention of practising stitches for the Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge. I didn't keep up with the challenge, so had the pieces spare. I decided to add some stitching to the first piece. This is how it looked originally. I started by machine stitching around the patches of colour.

Over the next couple of days, I added some hand stitched straight stitches, first in in yellow and then added some in orange.

Another project I got started on this week is a white texture felt piece. Liz from That Fuzzy Feeling blog, recently made a gorgeous piece of texture felt and it inspired me to make one. I decided to make a natural white one, so I got to play with (and smell!) my collection of wool, alpaca and mohair locks. They are mostly unwashed so my hands felt really nice afterwards.

The first day I managed to get as far as laying it out and sewing up around the edges. So far, I've managed to add the stitches from the top to the bottom.

Thanks to Ruth for encouraging us to find ways to fit in a few minutes of fibre time each day, I've managed to get a lot more done this week than I otherwise would have. It might not be much each day, but before long, it all adds up to finished projects I wouldn't have had without the challenge :)  Ruth's been blogging about her Daily Dose of Fibre, check out her blog for her gorgeous bead books, stitched fused fabric, and more.

Giveaway

We're having a Giveaway over on the Felting and Fiber Studio site. I have raided my fabric and fibre stash and put together lots of goodies perfect for embellishing felt. There is lots of shiny things, including some crinkly synthetic fibres.

There is also some novelty yarns/fancy fibres: some long pieces and some shorter lengths

There are lots of different types of fabric pieces and 'scraps', silk, synthetic fabrics and organza

Some natural fibres and top, Top L-R Egyptian Cotton fibre, Crimped Viscose fibre, Bamboo Fibre. Bottom L-R: Flax, Ramie, Banana top.

Plus lots of other little things I keep adding as I think of them :)
For all the details head over to the Studio site, all you have to do to win is leave a comment on the post
Good Luck! :)

Book Review: Creating Felt Artwork

Creating Felt Artwork: a step by step guide

This is an excellent, information packed, 60 page, full colour e-book by Rosiepink fibre artists Annie and Lyn. Using one of their own pieces, 'The Meadow' as a guide, they show you a step by step process and give you all the information you need to make your own beautiful, unique felt artwork. There are lots of nice, clear photos throughout, and simple but detailed instructions with lots of excellent tips and advice. Before the main part on how to create your felt wall hanging, there is a great section about finding inspiration, how to interpret your ideas into a design and planning your artwork.

The information in the main step by step guide, is excellent. It starts with a detailed equipment list with lots of hints for using inexpensive items you'd find around the house, and advice about preparing your work area. The instructions for how to lay out the wool for your design are very clear and detailed, and there are lots of photographs to illustrate each stage. There's a very detailed explanation of the whole felting process and valuable information about choosing other fabrics and fibres to add to your design.

The next section teaches you how to enhance and embellish your artwork with simple machine embroidery. This part is packed with information and advice too. There's everything you need to know about stabilising your felt artwork and choosing the right colours and types of thread to work best with your design. There's information about techniques to create the effect you want and how to add detail. This section also has advice about adding hand stitching and how to use machine and hand stitching create effects and texture and also about using other fibres for adding extra texture and detail.

Once you've finished your felt art wall hanging, you'll want to display it. There is a great section on how to back and hang your artwork simply and effectively, with clear instructions and photos. But if you'd like to display your artwork a different way, there is also a separate section on alternate ways to display your artwork and how to care for it.

There's information and tips throughout the book for techniques to help you realise your own design and create your own unique artwork. This includes how to make and use prefelt for more control over your design; how to re-use spare felt in the same way; using yarn and small drafted sections of wool for design, and adding other fabrics and needlefelting to enhance your artwork.

So, what if you've followed all the instructions and you're not happy with the way it turned out, or maybe you made a few sample pieces to try out your colour choices and don't know what to do with them? There's even a section for that, with some great ideas on what to do with spare pieces of felt.

And don't worry if you're an absolute beginner and have never tried felting before, or don't really know what all the felting terms mean, there's a glossary at the end with everything you need to know and an appendix with a complete step by step guide to making felt, with lots of clear photos.

This really is excellent value for money. It's an invaluable source of information and advice about creating beautiful feltwork and enhancing it simply with easy tips and techniques. And the great advantages about being an e-book is you can have it instantly and zoom into the photos for even more detail :)


If you'd like to own a copy visit Annie and Lyn's website http://rosiepink.typepad.co.uk/rosiepink/creating-felt-artwork-ebook.html It's also available on Craftsy http://www.craftsy.com/project/view/Creating-Felt-Artwork/43696

Cotton Gauze

Do you ever use lightweight cottons in your felting work? I’ve been quite busy lately working on my project of ‘other’ fibres and fabrics used in felting. I’ve been making a lot of felt pieces using lightweight cotton fabrics like muslin and cheesecloth. Another fabric I’ve used is Cotton Gauze, this is also known as ‘Scrim’, and I’ve used a couple of different types. This is some of the dyed pieces I have.

The gauze is really good for creating texture and effects. I’ve been making some large bold pieces to use for bookcovers.

I’ve also made some smaller pieces with resists, using the gauze for texture. This piece was for making into a pouch.

and this became a textured sculptural vessel

I’m starting to have a huge pile of colourful, texturey felt pieces all waiting to be made into something once the weather gets too hot for felting. This is a close up of a large piece I made for making a purse and matching mirror case out of.

The lightweight cottons also work really well for using in scarves and wraps instead of the usual silk. Do you use scrim or cotton fabrics in felting, or fibre art? How do you find it to work with? Have you ever dyed your own? (My hands are currently a strange shade after using red, blue and brown dyes this week!) I’d love to hear about your experiences with it and see photos if you have links :)