Fibre and Thread Sketching - week 6

Theme - Weather

My inspiration..
this photo of Central Park that my cousin shared on
Facebook a few weeks ago

Starting to build a simple picture..

using merino fibre, and mawata silk hankies for snow shine

Covered with tulle ready to start felting..

I also wanted to make some plain white felt so decided to make a bigger sheet than needed and use one corner for the picture.

cutting the picture section out -
I decided to keep the bottom edge natural

Fully felted, rinsed and dried

Starting Free Machine Embroidery..
This one turned out NOT to be a bite sized project..  it took HOURS and hours

I really wanted it to be finished at this point..
but my husband convinced me that it really did need some people in :)

I'm glad I listened.. Gary was right!

My fence is leaning the wrong way..
but I'm putting it down to artistic interpretation lol

And the back..
BEFORE adding people and footprints in the snow

Botany SLiDER Hat #2

This one is felted with the Bonfire Batts carded from my bag of Botany Waste..

1st layer 

2nd layer - black Finn wool 

3rd layer.
Loving the flashes of colour..
and wondering how much of it will survive felting?

Part way through.. having just removed the resist

And several hours later - it's dark again!
Thank goodness for my daylight bulb craft lamp..

A meandering stitch line this time..

And I went a bit crazy with the daisies :)

While I was felting I turned the hat inside out to work on the inside for a while.. but while this was wet you really couldn't tell a difference, the coloured bits were dark and the silk and firestar weren't showing at all.  I forgot to turn it the 'right' way..

When it was dry I started thinking.. 'wow, all that silk just disappeared'..
until I turned it over and looked inside :)  It's like a firework display going off in there lol 

I'm actually quite glad I didn't turn it.. I rather like having the quieter side out and knowing what's going on inside :)

Think I'm going to keep this one!  

Finished Botany SLiDER Hat #1

I decided to go with a navy leather hat band on this one (thanks to the help of my Facebook followers :) .. with antiqued brass rivet studs rather than spikes.

I AM feeling camera shy lately.. but to be honest I just LOVE seeing them from behind :)

Closer..

Side view ..

I love how well the white mawata silk shows up on this.. I just used the cut-off edges.  Reminds me of breaking waves on my Atlantic hat :)

Fibre and Thread Sketching - week 5

Fantasy

So much to choose from..  But I didn't want to do anything too involved..  my aim is try and keep these projects bite sized.  

After a couple days thinking I settled on doing a Cornish Pixie from Harry Potter..  The one I sketched as my design was a mixture of images on the internet.. some Cornish Pixies, some fairies, and with a slightly frog like element to his hands and feet :)

I wasn't confident to free hand copy it on the machine..
 so I traced him onto tracing paper and pinned in place

I love this blue silk!  Not sure what sort it is (it's a bugger to felt mind)
it's soooo shiny and luxurious!

Forgot the camera for a while now :)  but I snipped around the edges to reveal a little naked, wingless, blue pixie.  Pinned a piece of iridescent organza over then free handed his wings and snipped round the edges of them too.  

Close-up finished Pixie

With a few FME metallic stars to finish :)
I think he looks naughty enough!

Botany Batts to Hats

Last week I brought 500g of Botany Waste from World of Wool; it's a lucky dip bag full of odds 'n ends - each bag is different.  The reason I brought it was simply to try and replicate the random batts I get when I card everything in my fibre compost bin.  When I try and 'do it myself' just picking what I think are odd colours from my stash.. they just end up looking muddy.. or plain wrong.

Freshly tumbled out of the bag :)
There was even some baby camel fibre in there (that's what I think it was anyway)
.. gorgeously soft!

Carding :)  so relaxing..

4 batts.. I love the blue/brown combo.. really remind me of the Atlantic coast

I couldnt help sorting just a little.. there was such a nice potential combination with the blues, greys, white and browns.  So I have the 'Atlantic' batts, and the others are manly brown with shots of brightly coloured wool top and tussah silk with multicoloured firestar for sparkly.. Bonfire Night batts :)

I was just itching to get started on my next SLIDER hat.. so, even though it was past lunch time, I started..

First layer

Second layer - white Finn wool for more body

Third layer

Nearly there :)  It was sever hours past sunset at this point!

After rinsing, spinning and blocking.. this is what I got up to next morning
Big smiles from me :)

Yesterday I added the decorative stitching..
tomorrow the band will go on

I spent today felting another Slider using the Bonfire batts - to follow soon :)

Fibre and Thread Stitching - Week 4

Theme - Pattern

Mmmmm the possibilities :)  I wanted straight away to do 'something Celtic' .. but I do love zen doodles too..

Sunday morning I had a couple hours free.. so I doodled :)

But I still had a Celtic Beastie in mind begging to be made..

I totally cheated by tracing the beastie out of a Celtic
design source book :)
I sandwiched iridescent organza between the paper and
white felt and pinned.

Free machine embroidering over the lines in the drawing..

All main lines are 'drawn'  just pattern detailing to go..
I carefully pulled the paper away now - the stitches perforate
the paper so it tears away easily.. just need to go round with tweezers
getting tiny bits out afterwards

The back side

Front.  All stitched, organza still intact

Carefully snipping away the excess organza close to the stitch line

Finished

Closer-up

Now I'm picturing bags with beasties on the flaps.. or running up and over the straps..  Not just yet though, maybe later in the year.

And now a SHORT Slider :)

As I mentioned the first attempt at a 'Slider Hat' was rather taller than I had planned.  Even though I like how it looks, I wanted something which was a bit less of a vertical dynamo :)  

So, here goes..

1st job.. work out the new resist..
New short resist on top of the one I used for the tall Slider

I used the leftover batts from making the Tall Slider..

1st fibre layer - this is the batt which was 
on the OUTside of the Tall Slider

2nd fibre layer - this was the middle 
layer last time too

3rd fibre layer - this one was on the INside 
of the tall Slider

 I didn't take photos of the felting process.. but you've seen it a few times by now :)

Using the tool I made at pottery class last year 
to firm the brim

I use the edge on the handle of my scissors to 
work the crease between crown and brim.. 
make it nice and crisp.

Drying.. with the brim weighted down 
at front and back

Light blue woollen yarn for simple 
decorative stitching.  A couple of incidental 
daisy flowers on this one

Same finishing touches as last time
(I love these studs :)

Height comparison:
The short one is 2" shorter than the tall

Not feeling photogenic today :)

Dancing in the rain :)