I thought you might all like to know that white silk chiffon is currently on offer from Rainbow silks. It’s 90cm wide and has been reduced from £6.40 to £2.99 per metre. Grab it whilst you can, this is a very good price.
a life of felt
Tip – working with pre-felt March 27th, 2012
Pre-felt is, as it sounds, a piece of felt that hasn’t been fully felted but remains soft and can usually be cut up and put into further felting. Occasionally, if you’ve felted the wool a little too far it can be difficult to get the pre-felt to stick without stitching or needle felting it on. But if your pre-felt looks like this
You can see most of the fibres have already locked down and a skin has been formed. Using either a hand carder or dog brush just brush the fibres on the back of the pre-felt until they’re all fluffy.
Your pre-felt will then adhere to further felting without the need for stitching. I’ll put this onto the hints and tips page.
Nearly March 25th, 2012
We nearly didn’t get to do our walk on Saturday. Friday evening we left the mill a little later and arrived at the post office at 2.30pm to discover that I’d left my purse and handbag at the mill. Back we went and returned to the post office a mere 20 minutes later only to discover that it was shut due to an emergency.
We drove into town to the next post office to discover a complete lack of parking spaces, after circling twice Hubby dropped me off and continued to circle until I finally surfaced. Arriving home at 3.17, just in time to let C into the house, we showered, changed, packed and left for the Lake District at 3.37 promptly getting stuck in heavy traffic.
Calming down as the we progressed north, we arrived in Keswick 2 hours later on a lovely evening. We stayed at the youth hostel overlooking the river, a great spot, and dined on Mexican fare. Just as we were settling down to some pre-bed reading, C told us she had really bad back ache and couldn’t get comfortable. We didn’t have paracetamols, neither did the hostel or the three closed shops / supermarkets. In desperation we ran to a corner shop we’d remembered on the back streets and tracked down the tablets with a minute to spare before they closed! It wasn’t looking good for the following morning.
Just for once, we were up and breakfasted early ready to set off by 9am. C still had back ache but we thought we’d give it a try anyway.
You can nearly see the hills through the haze, it was very warm as we climbed a short steep ascent onto the moor.
You can nearly see the other sheep behind this Herdwick, it’s the one that looks like a rock. Don’t they have the sweetest faces?
We nearly managed to get a photo of the three of us sat on a stile (holding camera at arms length and hoping for the best), but we did manage the walk and had lunch sat outside the cafe at Grange. Once home, C spent the reminder of the day prone, complaining of back ache again but thankfully she seems right enough today.
Stitched in felt workshop March 23rd, 2012
It was one of my favourite workshops yesterday as we combined felt making with a few simple stitches. We began by stitching into the fabric before we then laid out the fibres.
It’s always interesting to see what colours people use. In addition to fabrics, silk and crab fibres, rovings, yarn and neps were added for more interest and texture. Then began the rubbing and rolling.
We stopped at the pre-felt stage and added more stitches and then again at the end.
You could hear a pin drop at this stage as everyone is concentrating so hard. Not that the stitching is difficult, you don’t need to know a lot of stitches, one of the most effective is a simple running stitch. First book cover up is Liz’s.
This isn’t a set of colours that I’d normally use but I just love the subtlety. We used muslin, silk chiffon, silk and crystal organza fabrics.
Fabulous striking purples, blues and pinks by Jeni with textured chain stitch in a metallic thread.
Jackie chose to keep it as a hanging and achieved some great textures adding lace and a chopped up metallic scarf to the mix.
Wonderful colours from Julia. Those of you who know my love of the sea and rust will understand why I’m loving this. What they all have in common is lots of colour, movement and texture. Stitches put into the fabric before we began felting completely disappear into the background and become part of the overall pattern. Stitching at the pre-felt stage has softened off and stitching done at the end stays proud so that they all contribute to the whole but at different levels.
New project March 21st, 2012
At Yarnival on Saturday I received my next project. It takes quite a bit of space up I discovered, especially whilst trying to fit it into a car full of fibres, fleece and 3 people. Suffice to say, it was a squeeze. My poor long suffering husband just sighed and kept moving things around until everything fitted.
It came from Kate and I’m very grateful for it as I really fancy having another go at spinning. It’s been in a loft for quite a while and has a screw missing (which of us doesn’t?) and needs a little TLC. Fortunately for me, Freyalyn is very good with spinning wheels and is leading me through it’s restoration and has already fitted a new drive belt. I now have the replacement screw and hope to be up and running very soon.
Yarnival March 19th, 2012
As promised, a round up of Saturdays fibre event, Yarnival, held in Trawden Lancashire. So much work was put into the event by the organisers and we had a good turn out. I went as two people. Myself
That’s me demonstrating and talking to people about felt making. But I also had a stall for Adelaide Walker.
Without the help of Hubby and daughter there’s no way I would have managed on Saturday so a big thank you to them. They carried boxes, set up, sold fibres, talked to customers, took photos, packed up and carried more boxes and all without complaint. I think they enjoyed it.
In the knit and natter corner was a loaned wedding dress, yes really, it was brilliant and blankets and toys to publicise Kyōyū kyōyū . After lunch I saw three men in this area getting to grips with knitting/crochet. The trees outside were covered with knitting in various guises and my felted corset (see yesterday).
The bike looks brilliant covered in knitting and there was a crocheted hanging basket and plants but most adorable were the Hebridean lambs. Now why weren’t they on sale? I wanted one not that I think the family would have approved, a step too far perhaps. But no detail was overlooked.
Yep, even the toilets had customised signs!
P.S I was asked from where I obtained my silk chiffon. I buy from Whaleys in Bradford.
Garment making part 4 March 18th, 2012
Well the finished garment was finally unveiled yesterday at Yarnival. Am I pleased with it? Hmmm, I confess that overall it didn’t turn out quite as well as I’d hoped but I’ve never designed for a tree before and I didn’t even see the tree until the unveiling.
I think a little shorter might have been better. The colour is pleasing and quite eye catching and the detail below is my favourite shot.
For those who’d like to see how it was attached to the tree, here it is from the back.
It’s now dried and packed away whilst I ponder what the next opportunity for it to be used will be. More of Yarnival tomorrow.
Are you celebrating? March 16th, 2012
This is the question I was asked this morning by a neighbour. I think perhaps it has something to do with taking this photo.
Finally, I have finished my last piece of bunting. You may remember some heart bunting made from Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) fibre. Well, this was made at the same time and has then sat quietly in the cupboard waiting for another finishing off session. As it’s Yarnival tomorrow I knew I had to make the effort to finish so I could take it with me.
There are five strings in total, each 2.5m with 10 flags along each length. The flags are made from Manx, Jacob, BFL, Cheviot and Shetland so another all British offering.
Garment making part 3 March 15th, 2012
Work has progressed slowly on this corset, fortunately for me the client has been very understanding Although her waist is a tiny bit on the generous side I am providing a little assistance in the bosom area.
Once stitched up, no-one will ever know. I also thought the bust line needed a little extra lace so have carefully added more. It’s starting to look quite good. The final items to complete are the holes for the lace up.
A first fitting was held on Sunday and the client is so delighted that I have permission to exhibit the corset this Saturday (day fater tomorrow, better get it finished!) at Yarnival. See you there I hope, whilst I anxiously await your verdict.
Still here! March 14th, 2012
So sorry I’ve been so quiet this last week but I promise I haven’t been asleep or lazy just a little overstretched. I’ve had meetings with pensions people on behalf of my Mum, which meant another day out of my schedule. I’ve also been very busy preparing for a mad day that I had at Eastburn Junior and Infant School yesterday.
They wanted to produce a wall hanging to send to a school in Pakistan with which they have links. The idea was to create logos based on the theme of friendship. In preparation each child drew or described what friendship means to them. There was some stunning artwork created and some perceptive words used.
The greatest challenge for me was that they wanted to create it in one day involving every child in school. Yes I did say every child, all 7 classes, all 200 children (approx) aged from 4 to 11. This meant an average time with a class of 40 minutes to include, explanations/instructions, the activity and tidy up. Amazingly we managed it and created two hangings, one for Pakistan and one for the school to keep. Guess who forgot to take her camera with her? Fortunately the school has promised to send photos which I’ll share with you as soon as they arrive.
NEXT? – Yarnival of course this coming Saturday. I have the fibres prepared but I now need to arrange my work for sale and gather my demonstrating kit. Oh and of course I will give you another update on the garment making too. See you soon.
