Frilly Felted Fun

Have had a ton of fun at the shop lately!  Last week we held a felted flower ring workshop and it was so much fun that I left all the supplies out to make ruffle scarves. 

A pile of rings from the workshop. 

One of the ruffle scarves. 

A ring made by the instructor Kristy Sturgil.  

Felted Wool Pebbles Tutorial

These three little guys started it all.  After washing then reaching into the pockets of several pair of jeans on wash day and pulling out cute little felted grains, I thought, 'I so need to make more of these and totally on purpose and totally bigger!!'

So I have spent some time working them out and find that really anything goes when it comes to felting in the wash.  This is so simple and the end results are so fun that for a change..... I actually look forward to doing the wash.

Here is a simple pictorial on how to make felt balls in the wash.  My washer is set to run on a GENTLE cold cycle and I don't change to a warm or hot setting to get the little pebbles.  Of course, if you wanted to use a warm or hot setting to your wash, I bet they would felt faster.  Use your regular washing detergent and load  your machine as normal adding these little steps.....

Have a few little balls of wound roving or picked fluff ready.  One pair of jeans will do 2 pebbles.

As you put in your jeans in the wash, fill each front pocket with a tangerine or tennis ball size of fluff.  Make sure they are stuffed to the bottom of your pocket and if you have smaller pockets fold the jeans in half with the front, stuffed pockets on the inside.  Oh and do not use the little pocket on the front; for some reason fiber does not like to felt in there.

After a GENTLE cycle in the wash, you will have something similar to the ball of fluff above.  Notice that you can still see the seams where it was wrapped.  Do not worry and put your little compact ball back in the jeans pocket and toss your load of laundry in the dryer as normal.

When your jeans are dry, you will have a lovely round pebble!  Note, I have had a couple of pebbles come out of their pockets in the dryer, and the end result was the same.  A lovely felted pebble:)

From left to right or top to bottom:  Ball of fluff, out of the wash and completely felted.

The end result, fun little felted wool pebbles!  Notice the little purple tape yarn in one pebble!  It is a nylon yarn and the I had no idea it was in the pocket when it went through the wash.  Love that it is completely attached to the pebble!  Wool and angora goat locks felt great as well.  They felt slower than the other fibers so are a great way to add texture! 

A felting we will go!

I've finally done it! Felting that is. Years ago, I bought some felting needles and just never got into the needle felting thing. This week end while waiting on trick or treaters, I came across the felting needles and foam block. I thought what better time to have a go at the needle felting than when I am waiting for the little ghouls and goblins to come knocking at my door:)

The sheep above was my third attempt at needle felting. It has a wire base and the body was formed using left over wool from the flick carder. On top of the base is several layers of Lincoln fleece which was then covered in Lincoln locks. I used a touch of Corriedale dyed black to complete my little sheep's legs and head.

The second felt project used the same left over wool base covered in hand dyed merino and glitz. The tree trunks have wire bases and the tops are covered in a lightly spun single of merino, silk and firestar.

The Frog. This little fellow is my first attempt at needle felting. I have to say that I am as pleased as peach pie with how he turned out. Again, I used the left over base to start on the first lily pad the frog is sitting on and then moved on to the little pink flower. Well, if you know me, you know that wasn't quite enough, so I started another lily pad and thought... Wouldn't it be nice if it all sat on a mini pond. The water is made of two different shades of blue merino and glitz.

After finishing the base , yet again I decided that the little scene just was a tad on the bland side, so I figured I would try my hand at a little frog. The frog was formed using a Targhee fleece that had dyed and then realized it had a break in it. I just never had the heart to throw out the fleece because the color was beautiful so I have slowly been using it to make felt balls. It felts fabulously, so I thought I would give it a go under the needle. After finishing the little fellow and placing him on his lily pad, the eyes were added using a white merino cashmere mix.

I'm really very shocked at how well I did on my first felting attempt here. Have packed away my little needles and foam block, because I can see that if I leave them out I could be very tempted to pick up another little hobby. But perhaps, I can just reserve these little projects for a little pick me up on rainy days:)