Felt

If you look at one of Raspberry's recent posts, see my links, you will see she has been making felt balls; hers have developed into key rings. Here are a few of mine.

There are also some felt beads, that is felt and silk wrapped over paper beads. I’ll do more with these one day. Have you made felt balls, how did they develop? What did you use them for? I have cut them and used PVA to seal the edges and attached as decoration to a bag. I prefer to make them Sheila Smiths’s way i.e. wrapping and using a felting needle to shape them.

For the next three Saturdays I am going to a felt making course at the Mary Ward Centre in London. I have never been there before but it seems to have a really interesting history and is in the Bloomsbury area
of London. I am really looking forward to it and will let you know what we do.

Lace edge

This is a sample of machine embroidery on transfer printed polycotton which I have made into a small ‘cushion’ by adding a machine embroidered lace edge using dissolvable fabric. It really small, about 6x4 inches. A have made a few edges like this but I find it quite hard work, although the end result is quite pretty. I did a bit of hand stitching, Cretan, and a small area using a thicker thread on the bobbin.



There is an interesting post here about how to add lettering using bleach;its an interesting blog in general.
If you have not seen this video about the obsession of crafting do have a look for a really good chuckle.
My latest shop items can be seen here.

Busy week

For someone who has given up full time work, I seem to have been really busy.
I had to buy a new car as my old one ‘died’; I also went for a group interview at the University for Creative Arts. I plan to start an Access Course in Art and Design in the autumn. I wonder if any of you have done this course, and what your experience of it was?

Playing with transfer paints lead to me machining this little zipped bag.
I put the polycotton onto acrylic felt and free machined the pattern, which I had made using a paper resist. I wound a thicker thread onto the bobbin and worked the piece upside down in some places. This was easy as I could draw out the lines on the felt. I then sewed the piece onto some of my procion dyed cotton.

If you look at my Etsy shop I would be pleased to know if the people in the States think my prices are Ok, too high etc.. Are the shipping costs likely to put people off? Feedback would be helpful.

Stamped bag

I wrote about this piece after I had been to a talk given by Sherrill Kahn at the Knitting and Stitching Show.
I eventually finished it and made it into a bag.
I have used raised chain band as the main stitch combined with some free machining.
I have just put it in my Etsy shop.

. Other than that I have continued playing with painted papers and using transfer paints with paper, leaf and lace resists. An easy
way to transfer images to cloth.