Felting, Dyeing, Sewing, Pricing, Listing and Blogging

This started out as an experiment nuno felting some tightly woven silk, but the weave was so tight the wool fibers would not migrate through. I peeled off the silk and had a basic natural white purse. That simply would not do, so after looking at it hanging on a skirt hangar for ages I got out the dyes.

I've been resisting doing a lot of dyeing. If a purse takes a couple of hours to lay out, a couple of hours to felt, and an hour or two to finish, adding dyeing to the process makes for a mighty expensive item in terms of man-hours. Or woman-hours.

But maybe that resistance was ill founded? I really like this purse. I like it better than the dark red one I am carrying now. In fact, I am tempted to make another one in another color with the same two interior pockets and a dark bottom with a bright top.

What's Missing?

This pair of hand warmers is for my sister, but they look unfinished to me. The beads across the wrist aren't quite enough, but I haven't figured out what else to do with them. Maybe a bit of contrasting color or fabric inside peeking out either at the finger end or the wrist end? Constructive criticism is welcome!

Blue and Yellow Hibiscus Flower Scarf

I bought a flowered silk skirt at a thrift shop and it has been sitting in the silk bin waiting for inspiration to strike. Finally, I decided to cut out some of the flowers in the print and nuno felt them onto a wool and tussah silk scarf. On the edges of the scarf are several of the colors in the flowers, just to make it interesting.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/81172272/blue-and-yellow-hibiscus-scarf

Celtic Cross

The inside layer of wool is white corriedale, andthe middle layer is the multi-colored BFL in Redwood Forest. I hope the colors all show through the white to make a lighter colored interior but still showing the lovely shades of blue, green and brown. The exterior is natural brown with a little blue and green carded in.

I made a length of felt out of the BFL to cut up for the design which I will felt in place. After it is felted the plan is to use the green yarn to add the detail to the Celtic cross. The template for the cross was an image from layeducation.org. By the time the felted project is complete it may not resemble the original at all!

Primary Colors

No, not the book! A red, yellow and blue scarf made from merino wool, silk sari threads, bamboo, and bombyx silk fiber. It's hard to even think about wearing a scarf now that summer has come to Texas. The best part of the heat is the scarf was dry in about 10 minutes after hanging it out on the clothesline.

Sandwiched Felt

After weeks of recuperating I am back to felting. Hooray!

This was an experiment that didn't yield the intended result. I sandwiched wool between a floral upcycled piece of organza silk and a green silk yardage from the fabric store. The floral side is heavily textured, which I like. and the green side has a much finer, tighter texture. What I didn't anticipate was how little drape the overall piece would have once completed. A smaller quantity of roving laid out in the middle might have allowed the silk to drape nicely. Aahh, tomorrow's another day, Scarlett!

Summer Handbags With a Pop of Color

I had a bag full of seashells that I've wanted to incorporate into a felted bag. I thought about felting a face and using the shells for eyes, but the lavender color might have looked either creepy or vacant. Anyway, I like them just as plain shells with some art yarn scribbled around them.

The cotton batik inside really pops. I think I will make a bunch of these handbags in different bright colors just because they make me happy.

Spring Ruffled scarves

Spring is still just a glimmer in my imagination, but it is coming! The red oak in the picture hasn't even thought about buds yet. I've started ruffled edge scarves for the next season. All contain merino wool, but yellow and the two with the white centers also contain tussah silk. The black edged one has gray yak fiber mixed in, and the lavender, yellow, and turquoise contain bamboo fiber. All are felted with Dr. Bronner's organic soap.

Blue and Brown Cobweb Felt

These two cobweb felted scarves are in Salisbury, Maryland at Enza's Organics. Go by and check them out!

Peter Pan Slippers

These merino slippers are not as shiny as the flash makes them look. The diamond sewn on the front accents the blue silk fibers felted into the wool.

Shirtfront Bag

I wanted to use the placket front of a shirt with the buttons on in a project. The curly locks are needle felted on. I might do another one of these in different colors.

Silk Hankies

This cobweb felt is blue silk with blue and brown merino. The brown looks almost black. Using silk hankies laid out in squares gives one side of the scarf a geometric pattern and a strength to the matrix of fiber.

Cobweb Felt

I've been making cobweb felt. This green one is silk & merino. It is so fine I pulled it through my wedding band.

Endless Scarf

This nuno felted scarf is a gigantic, continuous loop. It's made from the bottom edge of an upcycled skirt. The wool side reminds me of a subtle Pucci print.