Tag: felt flowers

Alice Springs Beanie Festival 2015….

Fire & Flood felted beanieHi everyone, it’s been quite a while since my last post… time is just flying…

So, it’s that time of year again… The Alice Springs Beanie Festival… & all the excitement that it generates across Australia… I did find the theme ‘Opposites Attract’ a bit challenging this year but, as it so often happens, in a quiet moment the ideas slowly emerged… These are my 2 entries that I know have safely arrived in Alice Springs, thanks to Aussie Post’s tracking system…

I’d like to wish all contestants much success &, all those lucky enough to be at the festival, a fabulous time…

1) Fire & Flood ~ Wet Felted & beaded Beanie.

Fire & flood 1Fire & flood 2 

Fire & flood 3Fire & flood 4

2) From Coral Reefs…to Tropical Beaches…to Forest Hinterlands ~ Hand-spun beanie, embellished with freeform crochet & wet felted motifs.

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Wet Felt Flowers Pattern Tutorial…

DSCF0534I’ve had this tutorial in my mind for a very long time, but knowing how much time & work was involved putting it together: taking photos & editing, writing step by step instructions & keeping them clear & precise…

Like many of us, I procrastinated, allowing other things to occupy my time… even though that little voice in my head kept reminding me of what I had intended to.

So, a few weeks ago, I decided I couldn’t put it off any longer (that little voice was beginning to chatter & become annoying) – I got my act together…

Writing the tutorial was as I thought – time consuming – but I had forgotten just how much fun making these felt flowers is & how satisfying it is completing & reaching another goal…

ff-felt-flower-groupAnyone can make these  flowers, no felting experience necessary as the tutorial takes you through the steps &, apart from the wool roving, which can be purchased at any good DSCF0553craft suppliers, most of the requirements are items you’ll already have in your home.

The tutorial covers 2 wet felted flower methods ~ (1) using polystyrene moulds ~ (2) free formed & it also covers making leaves, centre balls & stamen/pistils

Have fun with these wet felted flowers… experiment with colour combos, textures & sizes… turn them into brooch pins or jazz up an old hat, they even look great in a vase… they’re such a joyful gift for family & friends… enjoy!

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Requirements: xxfelt-require-1

  1. coloured wool rovings (available from any good craft suppliers)
  2. polystyrene balls, egg shapes, golf balls,
  3. very sharp pointed scissors
  4. rubber gloves if you don’t like harsh soap on your hands
  5. old towels
  6. bamboo sushi mats – bubble wrap
  7. pure soap
  8. hot water
  9. old sheeting – chux wipes
  10. craft glue
  11. sewing machineDSCF0547
  12. sewing cotton

The tutorial includes:

  • requirements (page 2)
  • making flowers using the polystyrene method (page 3-6)
  • making centre balls (page 7)
  • making pistils/stamens – page 7-8
  • making leaves (page 9-11)
  • making freeform flowers (page 12-15)

The Wet Felt Flower Pattern Tutorial is available for sale in my Etsy Shop & Zibbet shop

Crochet Felt Cloche Hats with flowers… another collection

olive green crochet felt hatHello everyone, this is my new collection of crochet felt cloche hats with flowers that I finished a couple of months ago with only the photos needing to be taken before I could post about them & list them in my shops. There were 10 in all originally, but 3 have sold before I even had time to photographed them, so thought I better get a move on, otherwise, I’ll have no record that I ever made them at all.

I’m so pleased that his crochet felt cloche design is proving to be so popular. They were created in the usual way as I’ve written about in previous posts… using 100% pure wool I crocheted the crowns, which are then felted in the washing machine. I crochet the band directly to the felted crown. The flowers are first crocheted, again with 100% pure wool, & then embellished with crochet, embroidery & beads before being attached to the hat. For this collection I also came up with a plaited crochet braid that I’ve attached to each cloche between the band & crown… I think it adds a nice touch…

It always amazes me… I use the same technique… crochet, felt, embellish… yet, no 2 are ever the same…

Over the coming days, I’ll be listing these cloche hats in my Etsy shop

pink olive crochet felt hatlilac crochet felt hatblue crochet felt hatblack & white crochet felt hatpink crochet felt hatpurple blue crochet felt hat

Crochet Felt Hat Beanie Winter Collection

Hello everyone, allow me to introduce  my new winter hat beanie collection… a combination of crochet, felted crochet & wet felting… all made from 100% wool, with assorted cotton & acrylic yarns, glass & wooden bead embellishments.

The collection came about while I was incapacitated some weeks back with a back injury & given strict instructions to take it easy… hmmm… Well, that’s always easier said than done….

So, what to do? I couldn’t just sit around feeling sorry for myself…. a poke around in my stash, I found a whole bag full of feltable yarns purchased some time ago &, as usually happens, completely forgotten about… so, with a collection of favourite DVD’s, I set to work crocheting the hat beanie crowns that I later felted in the washing machine (no strain, no pain)…& they came up a treat… from there I slowly added the crochet bands & embellishments… time well spent, time not wasted & Yes… I did take it easy…. Enjoy!

Over the coming days  these hat beanies will be available for sale on Etsy.

Fun-filled Felting Day…

I had my camera ready to take photos throughout the day but I must have been over-excited, having far too much fun & completely forgot... Thankfully, the lovely Bev, had her wits about her & managed to take a few snaps... so, I've put together this little collage of the day.

This particular felting day had been planned last year, but one thing or another kept getting in the way… So, it’s been a long time coming but we finally settled on a date. On Monday morning, 5 enthusiastic ladies turned up at our usual crocheting corner (my back yarn) to find it transformed into a felting playground. The weather was perfect & we were all itching to get started…

The planned program was to be a busy one – make a small jewellery pouch, some flowers, beads & a felted rock – it’s quite an ask when you’ve never felted before but everyone lathered up, sloshed about & massaged their way to successfully produce their felted treasures. Of course, there were also some felting mishaps that needed some creative adjustments (a good sense of humour is always a requirement when undertaking these new adventures & we had that in spades), all in all,  it was a fabulous, fun day where we all learnt a lot… I certainly did…. Thank you, ladies…. It was a wonderful way to start the week…