Yet more cards

I wanted to make some more cards, and try out a new method! 

These were made after a trip to the beautiful White Peak area of Derbyshire, and are slightly inspired by the distinctive stone walls there. 

I made the felt, which is very fine and delicate in a new (to me) way, suggested in Sheila Smith's book "Embellish, Stitch, Felt"  I laid out a piece of water soluble fabric, and then built up overlapping but very fine layers of merino wool, bits of organza, dyed scrim, sari silk, coloured silk. I then put another piece of water soluble fabric on top to make a sandwich, and pinned it all together to hold it. I then used the embellisher machine to needle felt it all over. 

I then washed away the fabric, lightly squeezing the felt to wet- felt it just a little. 

After drying, I pinned another layer of w-s fabric on top, on which I drew out the design I wanted to free motion machine stitch - wall shapes, clouds, grasses. After completing that, I disolved the w-s fabric away again, and, once dry,  was left with this:

I then cut sections off, on an irregular manner, and teased out the edges a bit with a needle to soften the cut edge. Then I added a few french knots and stuck them onto blank cards. 

The felt is very fine - transparent in places. Here's a closeup:

Update a week later...

After making two cards with this piece, I decided not to cut off more strips for cards, but to mount the rest onto a small canvas. 

I painted the top and bottom of the canvas with acrylic paint mixed with pva glue, and pushed some muslin into the paint mixture to add some texture. The felt was wrapped round the canvas and glued. 

A fancy bag

I made this bag from some old rather matted merino dyed in shades of pink/lavender/blue. The decoration was bits of an old indian silk scarf, some dyed scrim, and a few curly locks. I laid the decoration on the resist first, and built up the bag inside out, in the manner of the wonderful Heather Woollove. Here is a detail:

 I will definitely use this method again! Partly because you forget about the design once it's hidden, and it is so exciting to rediscover it when you finally cut out the resist. 

Here is the  back, which I possibly prefer - (note to self - less is more!)

Inside the bag I incorporated two pockets using more silk and wool, These were added on the outside as I was making it. 

In some ways this is not really my style - too fussy, but I enjoyed making it and learned something. One for my present drawer! 

The Egg-Bag (part 1)

I haven't done any felting for ages! And it was hard to decide what to make to break the felting fast. How about an egg?
I have been wanting to try a one piece handbag with an integrated handle, so here goes.

I used 3 layers of merino wool around an egg shaped resist with a slightly flattened bottom.
To make the felt very strong, I incorporated a layer of cotton scrim between the top 2 layers of wool. I'm not sure if this has made very much difference, but I had some purple dyed scrim.
I carefully felted and fulled the piece using a bamboo blind and cool water with savon de marseille.  In this picture it is lying on the resist, so you can see how much it has shrunk.
I also added small pieces of silk in a random way as surface decoration, but they have all but disappeared into the felt.

It is still damp, and I have cut a curved line to remove the resist and form the handle and flap.

And the same on the other side.

Here it is stuffed with plastic bags and drying. I am feeling very pleased with the shape. 

I am planning to put some thick cord into the handle, and stitch the edges together, so that it holds its shape even with some weight in the bag. 

How should I decorate it to finish it off? - any ideas welcome! 

Nuno notepad cover

I made this A5 size notepad cover to use up a piece of experimental felt that I had made! 

It was made with merino wool on organza which has a slightly metallic sheen. I added more pieces of organza, and nepps, trapped behind a thin layer of merino wisps, to add texture. Silk strands were used to give colour and shine. I liked the way adding the extra pieces of organza just under the top layer gave the piece areas of deeper folded texture. I was worried that the nepps (little knobbly balls of wool!) had not felted into the fabric well, and might come loose with handling, so I added a bit of machine stitching on these areas. 

To make the cover, I first made a fabric cover to fit the notepad, then sewed the felt onto this, leaving an extra border of felt around the edges. I then blanket stitched the edges of the  felt. 

Nuno shawl

I found pretty piece of painted very sheer silk in a shop in Turkey. I did not want to cover it in felt, so laid on circles of merino roving. It was very large, so I wrapped it all in a roll covered with a damp towel and felted it in the tumble drier. The colour in the silk bled leaving it paler than originally, but still pretty.

 I like the interesting textures in the silk as the fulled wool draws it up. And also the fact way the wool gives the shawl texture and structure when you wear it, yet remains light. 

Organza experiment

I found some rolls of shiny - almost metallic - synthetic organza in a craft shop and wanted to see this fabric would work for nuno felting. 

I put thin layers of merino wool tops, and a few bits of silk and also trapped some wool nepps and strands of spun wool in between the merino. 

It took a bit of elbow grease - and I did use an electric sanding machine. But the wool did attach itself to the organza and start to felt. Enough for a decorative object, though perhaps not for something subject to much wear. It had an underwater look about it, so I added more organza shapes (some shiny fish and starfish) and some wool and ribbon weeds. I trapped all this under some soluble interfacing, and then machined lots of ripply lines to hold it all. Then rinsed away the interfacing. I was quite pleased with the result. But what I really like is the effect when you hold the piece up to the light. Love the way the nepps show up.  Here it is against a window:

I also experimented with a small piece, throwing it in the tumble drier to felt. Amazingly this felted quickly and much more firmly. The colours reminded me of Monet's waterlilies, so I doodled on a few with the machine.  

Oops funny how you can spot loose threads that need trimming in a photo!

Not sure what I can do with these samples, but I learned a lot and will incorporate organza onto future pieces. 

Silk and wool scarves

I found some silk scarves that I had bought cheaply in India, and tried felting in fine wisps of merino wool. They felted really easily, and I love the way the silk crinkles up and develops a great texture as the wool shrinks. Of course the finished length of the scarf is shorter too. Pictures cannot capture the light softness of the silk and wool, and they are delicious to wear. 

Blending with the original scarf colours, I did one in soft cream brown and yellow, for myself, and a more funky bright pinks and purples, with a detachable flower brooch, for my daughter.  

This technique of felting wool into silk is called nuno felting.