Friday 18 June 2010

Fun felting

In between days at work and other mundane essentials (like shopping & housework) plus making the most of the sunshine with the dogs over in the fields :o) Ive done some really fun felting projects!

A few days ago I read a post on Daily Felt, Inger was asking if any feltmakers wanted to make & send starfish to a group supporting children with cancer. The group are having their 5th annual funday & want to give each child a starfish. Its a really touching post, and immediately I wanted to make a starfish & send it to help bring a little happiness.

More organised than usual :o) I took photos step-by-step...

I started out by covering the star shaped resist with lovely lime green Icelandic wool; I wrapped around fine strips of batt until it was completely enclosed... I did 2 layers of Icelandic (the 2 layers perpendicular was interesting! :o)
Then I covered it with 3 layers of my favourite cobalt blue merino top.
For decoration one side was liberally sprinkled with sari silk fibre, and on the other side I layed out a design using a homespun boucle plied with a metalic thread. I crocheted a `wagon wheel` on a big hook to go in the centre.
Turns out the handle on our new French doors are perfect for drying this sort of thing on!



It made a really strong, sturdy felt... the sari silk twinkles & shimmers and on the other side theres just an occasional glint of metalic thread sparkling. I`ve stuffed it with clean / soft fleece from a local flock of free range organic sheep... Its very cuddly & tactile & measures just over 10".

I also made another hat! This is from Lizzie Houghtons Felting Fashion book (great book!) A little pillbox hat, as a sneak preview heres the top before felting...



Well, thats it for now... Have a good weekend x

4 comments:

Kelly said...

What a wonderful starfish! I cannot wait to see your hat! I am so afraid of making one....but I do love seeing others creations!

Lock Family said...

They look gorgeous, I'm sure the kids will love them!!

Charlotte said...

What a lovely idea with the starfish! I have just read the post on Daily Felt, and I am going to make one! Your starfish looks great!

FeltersJourney said...

Thank you :o)

Charlotte send me a link to your pics when you have done one...would love to see it! Looking forward to seeing them all.

Kelly, I used to be nervous of making hats, but theyre just like any other seamless object or vessel. This hat isnt actually seamless, you make the crown & sides seperately & sew it up. (a hat block helps A LOT though! got mine of ebay for about £7)

x