Revisited and Revamped #2

Do you remember my Dragon bag?  I felted it this time last year.. 

from last year

.. and though I was very happy with the shape and style I was never satisfied with the closure!  So a couple of weeks ago it got a make-over :)

Luckily I knew just which shades of fibre I had used... and still have some.  So, I made a matching piece of felt and cut an asymmetrical flap from it.. then decided the top of the bag was a little floppy for my liking and cut a band from the new felt to sew around the inside of the bag, from one edge of the flap to the other edge of the flap.  

I repositioned the ceramic moon button

The flap is hand stitched to the inside of the bag.. Then all round the top (including the join of bag top to flap) I blanket stitched with teal silk thread.

The panel and flap, now that they are in place have made a nice sturdy opening - no more flopping about!

The gold marks show where the integral pockets are..
The reinforcing panel blends in well (the label is stitched to it)

 To close the long tendril wraps around the moon..

I'm really happy with it now.. I like the quirky fastening of wrapping a cord around the moon :)  Its quite secure too, 'specially if wrapped round a couple of times.

So far the only other pieces in the 'redo' basket that I have worked on are pieces of jewellery.. and I haven't photographed them..  it's a work in progress that I can just dip into as and when I get the time.

Right now as I am finishing typing this post I am looking at a glorious winter sunset through the woods.. I love winter sunrise and sunset!  Now I am off to cook a beef stew for dinner yum

xx

Revisiting and revamping.. #1

A few weeks ago I finally reorganised my craft room.. its now just a store room really as I do all of my felting in the dining room :)  While sorting I came across quite a few pieces that had been lurking at the bottom of storage boxes for one reason or another.. some had been to craft fairs and didn't sell, others that I had never been 100% satisfied with but couldn't figure just what needed to be different for them to work for me.  So, I put them all in a basket and have been working my way through them... changing them up.  Here's what I've done so far..

I had 2 simple, seamless pouches which fastened with a cord through the eyelets.  I was looking at this one thinking "hmmmm, what can you become?"  I suddenly thought...  How about an..

OWL!

 I cut the top flap into shape and used lots of appliqué patches..

Leather for his beak makes a strong pull tab for opening his popper.  Harris tweed scraps became wings, and offcuts from the pretty cotton I used to line him was just right for his eyes.. which I finished off with a couple of old plastic buttons.  

I machine stitched the zip into the lining and then hand stitched the lining into the pouch and finished it off with a blanket stitch all the way around the opening.

I forgot to take a photo of the red pouch before starting work!  But it was basically the same as the one above... only red :)  I decided to make a mini-bag out of this one..

Zipped and lined in the same way as the owl pouch

I love the colour combo.. hot red & turquoise, it's not very easy to photograph though..

Green buttons on the bag handles :)

This pouch already had the black heart appliqué . and I really like it so didn't want to take it off... I think it still works..

I like them better now :)

Tree of Life #2

 After laying out the bag and drawing the design took so long, I ended up leaving this till the next day to felt.  I worked it HARD, got loads of shrinkage and a nice sturdy felt.  The sari fabric worked really well for the motifs I think.. these are my favourite bits :)

The pomegranates'

Acanthus leaf

The tussah silk on the inside really lightens it up

The felted bag was just the right size.. with a nice roomy bell bottom and 2 integral pockets.  The only 'problem' was I know that I'd be tempted to everload it due to its size.. and though it could easily carry weight the handles would end up distorting.   They needed reinforcing!

So, I felted a matching piece of felt and cut it to match the shape of the upper part of the bag.  I did it in 2 pieces which met at the sides of the bag.  Carefully pinned then hand stitched it in place.

Blanket stitched handle reinforcing.. and integral pockets.  The mobile phone pocket is near to the top so you don't have to go delving into the bags depths when it rings

both sides

Lovely and sturdy now :)

Project finished.   Tree of Life design out of my head & I'm a happy bunny

x

Tree of Life bag #1

This design had been whirling around in my brain for ages!  

My Tree of Life bag was inspired by things I came into regular contact with in our local museums when I worked there; the bed hangings at the Oak House ( a Tudor House) along with other Tudor & Jacobean crewelwork embroideries seen in other museums.. unfortunately I don't have photos of any of these!  And the William Morris wallpaper at Haden Hill House, William Morris created tapestries inspired by the older Tree of Life and Mille Fleur tapestries.. quite a few of his wallpapers remind me of them too.  Anyway.. that was my inspiration.

SO..  I wanted to make a nice roomy, sturdy day bag.  One that can happily carry everything you need for a day at work, or your knitting / crafty projects for a week away.  

I cut a pretty huge template.. it was getting on for 4 foot long and nearly 1 1/2 foot wide..  I sprinkled lots of green and purple tussah silk on top of the resist, added pocket resists, and laid out 6 layers black on the inside and mallard green outside.  I used a slightly coarser merino fibre than usual to make a heavier felt.

On top of the last layer I drew the design.  Both sides are different.

Design drawn on in merino and tussah silk fibres

One of the features in the Tree of Life embroideries that I absolutely LOVED is that the leaves, flowers and fruits were filled with intricate patterns. 

I used differently coloured and patterned silk sari's to create a similar effect 

 I cut the motifs from vintage silk saris, laid them in place and outlined them with merino.  

All laid out and ready to felt

Finally scattering more purple tussah silk onto the mallard green areas.

I was certainly ready to get felting by the time the design was finished!  It took forever for such a simple looking design.. 

Unrelated anecdote..

..A few years ago I had the task of setting up a William Morris printing workshop for children and families at Haden Hill House, a Victorian House with lots of William Morris wallpaper.. I immersed myself so much into his designs that I came out the other end quite convinced that we absolutely HAD to have some William Morris wallpaper in our living room - thank goodness I got over this before putting any up... I don't think it would have suited our old 3 bed semi :) lol

Mother and Daughter Felting Fun :)

As you know my baby turned 14 a couple of weeks ago.  The weekend before Rachaels birthday the boys were busy working at Garys moms house, so we had a girlie weekend... perfect for a biggish felting project.

Rachael designed her slippers.. unfortunately we got the drawing wet so I can't show you.. but this is how the weekend went..

After drawing round her feet & cutting them out we worked out the slipper shape
adding 1" to each side and  1.5" at toe & heel, and cut a template from newspaper

We cut the resists from foam floor underlay.. and drew the inner design onto the template to
make it easier for Rachael to lay out.  They were going to be GOLDFISH

From this point on Rachael worked on the slippers pretty much on her own with just the occasional helping hand to show her how to work it.  I have a lovely big work table.. Rachael worked at one end and I worked at the other.

Rachael put sari silk fibre on the goldfish for scales, outined in red merino.
We put silk chiffon on TOP of the blue areas to stop it disappearing into  the orange layers which followed

Orange for goldfish :)

Now... as we planned to mad flat bottomed, slip on slippers.. We planned to make the cuts and remove the resists and then turn the heel part 'inside out'  the tricky part was getting the tails on the right side!

We used 6 layers of Icelandic wool, the inner 2 layers were a pretty yellow.
Rachael made fins from silk chiffon sari fabric

Unfortunately, momma got muddled and the fish tails ended up on the wrong side - oops.  So to rescue them we cut around the outside of the heels, placed the fish-tails on top and stitched them with merino wool yarn.

Rachael working hard

After working and shaping you cant really tell that we sewed the seam.

Rachael spent about 5 hours straight on both the Saturday and Sunday working on these.. I don't think she could quite believe how much she needed to work them to shrink 'em down enough & shape 'em :)  she kept asking "is it done yet?" answer "no, another 100 rolls" - thank goodness she enjoyed every minute, and she certainly appreciates her felted slippers now she knows how much work they are.

I finished them off for her while she was at school by defining the lips with a few stitches.. sewing button eyes on (just normal buttons stacked so they look nice and boggley) and sewing some dusky orange leather soles on. 

And the good news is.. she is actually wearing them!

A week of highs and lows.. and a little bit of felt

What a week!  Started off on a high preparing for Rachael's birthday, which went really well, she had a lovely time.  She just had a few friends around for a pizza party after school.. it was lovely listening to them all chattering away and having fun :)  Rachael always makes so much effort to make other peoples 'special' days extra special.. it was nice to spoil her a little.  Unfortunately the pressie I was most excited to give her didn't arrive in time, it got snarled up in customs :(  but I have today collected it from the sorting office and can't wait to see her open it tonight.  I shall show and tell soon.

So.. that was the high.  The low was my mom having a small stroke.  She is doing ok and seems to be in good spirit, still in hospital at the moment.  So between visiting, checking on dad and making sure he is ok & eating properly things have been a little fraught.

I did manage to get a little bit of felting done in between everything else that was going on..  On Monday I made a hat to give to my mum-in-law for Christmas.  I've crocheted her hats in the past but this is the first felt one I have made for her.. Thought I'd have a go at something a little more formal, but fun.

Think I need to use the steam iron on the peek to straighten it out a little

It has a slight peek at the front and rolled brim at the back

It was like making a short witches hat really.. just folded in on itself at the end to form the spiral.  

I needed a light hearted 'fun' project to work on when I had chance toward the end of the week.  SO I felted a cauldron for halloween..

Couldn't resist a Harry Potter reference :)  I needlefelted;
Pewter - Standard Size 2 on the back..
from the Hogwarts equipment list in the first book

And on the front..

What else but a slimy green tentacle gripping an eyeball!?  :D

I used purple glass seed beads for the suckers.
I already had the  felted eyeball bead.. can't for the life of me remember why, but  it was just what I needed

A cauldron full of 'green goo' with a tentacled something swimmin round in it :)

And now I have a stinking cold and have to keep away from my parents so I don't add to their problems by giving them germs :(  I don't feel energetic enough for felting so think I will do a bit on the computer then go cover some shoe boxes.  I like to post my felted slippers /boots out in recycled shoe boxes.. which I cover with paper torn from old damaged books and magazines (only interesting, pretty paper of course) .  They make nice gift boxes... I can have a quiet few hours glueing collages over my bare boxes, it'll be a job I don't have to do another day.

xx

Where to begin..

When faced with a BIG box of pretty new fibres to play with :D   I actually felt spoiled for choice, so decided to work on just a couple of colour combos at a time..

Orange and pink - with a little purple silk..

Gold silk caps stretched over the resist before laying
down the  merino makes it pretty inside  :)

 And mallard green with black and again purple silk ..

Palm side

Outer side

 And a larger than normal Tree of Life bag

More on this one soon

Which I have yet to finish!  

The weekend and week so far have been super busy.. Its Rachael's 14th birthday tomorrow (Wednesday) so at the weekend we embarked on a mother & daughter project.. a new pair of slippers for Rachael, it went really well - I took lots of pics and will be blogging later in the week.  Now I'm doing all the momsy stuff that goes with an upcoming birthday.. plus I need to get the leather soles cut and sewn on for her by tomorrow ... while fitting in as much felting as I can.  Have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying all of the excitement.. but I can NOT believe that my baby girl is 14!  It feels like just 5 minutes since I was 14.. 24 years ago.. now thats scary!

Right.. I'm off to work on a pair of slippers then decorate a cake..

xx

Ruffled Scarf take 2.. and the rest of the week :)

Last week was another nicely busy and productive week for me..  I had bash at my 'raspberry ruffle' scarf again... I'm much happier with this one :)

 I do love these colours..  photos a little dark though, a sure sign of approaching winter - poor light for taking photos!

A much calmer coloured nuno wrap.. this piece of crinkle silk chiffon is lovely, a duck egg, blue, cream and red pattern.. I must figure out something to make for myself with the rest of this, maybe a tunic or a skirt..

Nuno felted with these colours it actually reminds me of patterned denim to look at.. I suppose its the 'washed' effect of the wool fibres over the silk.

And more slippers..

This colour combo is proving popular!
Another commission, no probs with shrinkage rates this time thank goodness

Icelandic fibre in natural dark and mid browns..
Burgundy leather soles and a little red in the toggle cords and
blanket stitched edges to brighten them up :)

What else has been going on..?  Well, I got a nice big box full of fibrey loveliness..

10 kilos of it for me to have fun with :)

And I took Matthew to the cinema to see the new Resident Evil film - he was desperate to go during the opening weekend and had nobody to go with, so I went with him yesterday (bonus for me; Gary cooked dinner!  Which was very nice.. I go to the cinema and come home to a lovely meal :)  I have to say though.. its the first and the LAST film I plan on watching in 3D.. it felt like I couldn't see it very well.  

Well thats pretty much my week :)