Category Archives: textured felt

Tweedy Samples

Over on the Felting and Fiber Forum,  Frances and Galina have been posting about some new “scribbly” scarves  as I like to think of them. They are made from wool yarns, and led to a discussion about using up some of my admittedly excessive (don’t tell my other half I’m admitting to that!) stash of yarns from the days when I used to crochet. Most of my yarns however are either acrylic or polyester based rather than wool, making me doubt that I could get them to felt.

Galina posted this incredible link to Irena Levkovich’s work, creating amazing felt garments that look like they are woollen tweed.

So how could I resist, I still want to have another go at making a bolero jacket that fits me better….

These are my test samples:

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I included some polyester eyelash yarn on the white and blue sample, just out of curiosity to see how it would behave…

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It produced an interesting, highly textured effect but it rather detracts from the tweedy quality I was aiming for and I do wonder if the loops it formed would catch and pull if I tried to make a garment with it.

Overall I these samples were a success and I’m itching to work on something bigger! I am attending a workshop with Rutsoku Sakata Monday and Tuesday next week, so I will have to be patient and resign myself to just planning the jacket until Wednesday…

Felt Shibori and Some Hats

As promised here are some photos of the jacket I made on Tatiana Sherverda’s workshop at the end of April. The workshop was intended to be focussed on tailoring and pattern making but as you can see we went off on a bit of a shibori tangent! 🙂

Of course that did mean very few of us managed to finish our jackets during the workshop (I was still working on mine 3 weeks later…). I’m afraid I don’t have any “during” photos but Terriea posted one on her blog, it’s near the bottom of the page.

While making this I wasn’t 100% sure I would feel comfortable wearing it (it is very OTT compared to what I would normally wear) but now I love it and can’t imagine parting with it. I’m not sure why but something about it reminds me of Game of Thrones, there is something theatrical about the silhouette I think…?

Another long-promised offering (sorry I have been really rubbish at finishing projects this year), the brain hat that you all very kindly provided ideas on how to finish it. The brim won out in the end (although I really didn’t expect it to) and I am rather pleased with how it turned out:
 

This is rather naughty, I know I should be making more of an effort to empty my UFO box but you know how it is when you get an idea for a new project….

This is my wooly prize from the IFA conference a few weeks ago, all along it has been crying out to be turned into an ocean / something watery.

When I started, I had ideas of waves of felt with white foam “crashing” over the surface of a hat, here it is at the layout stage.

The wool is English 56’s, not a breed (I suspect it is a blend of wools) I am familiar with, but it feels quite course to the touch so I used a couple of layers of merino batts on the inside for comfort.

I have to confess the waves are looking more and more like whirlpools as this hat has developed but I think it still works, it’s still drying, hence all the pins….

Just a few stitches and hopefully this one will never get to see the inside of my UFO box 🙂