Love me some felting
With the help of my friend Jen and these two cutie pies, I entered the world of felting this week. I’ve been gathering some wool sweaters at the thrift store with this purpose in mind, and I was finally ready to begin! We took the sweaters, some dish soap, two sweet toddlers and put them all in a hot bath together. Ella and Lily definately got a kick out of being in the bath with all the wool, and stomped and splashed away. Afterwards, I put the sweaters into the dryer (I think I’ll just line-dry them next time, since this was the second time all year I’ve used the dryer and it felt weird, plus I don’t think it was necessary).
When I first heard about felt, I thought it was nuts. Shrink wool? On purpose?
Consider me converted. With $1 sweaters from the thrift store, some of which had holes or stains and weren’t great for wearing anymore (and one of Ben’s which had already accidentally been partially felted -sorry sweetie!), I was able to get over my inherent reaction to “wasting” wool. The felt is so soft, super warm, and really fun to work with. One of the best parts is that you don’t have to enclose seams, since there’s no fear of it unraveling. Woo hoo! Felting, and then sewing with the felt, is sort of like instant knitting. Ok, not that I’m going to stop knitting, but it’s fun to get the quickness of sewing and the yumminess of wool.
Since I can’t convince Ella to wear socks in our house, resulting in mighty icy toes, my first project was these slippers, from Betz White’s Sewing Green. She chose the colors, and this project was super easy and fast. It was done, start to finish, in under an hour. Ella has worn them non-stop, and I love their elf-ness. I want some!
I was thinking about making her some felt mittens, too, since I’m trying to capitalize on her sudden ease in the outdoor winter world, but cold hands and feet have been bringing us inside after half an hour. Then today, I lost one of her mittens, so it was settled. To the cutting table (yay for my new big table in my new room!), and these sweet little mittens were born. I just traced her mitten, with about a 1/2 in seam allowance all around, sewed the outline, flipped them, and sewed on the cuff. I did the cuff seam on the outside, since I thought a seam right on her wrist might be irritating. For the cuff, I used some felt that was stretchy, from a ribbed part of the red sweater.
Next up . . . a heart garland, inspired by Kyrie.
Now that I’m addicted, can you recommend any good felting books or projects?
Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and ...
Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way
Brave Irene (Sunburst Books)
The Private World of Tasha Tudor
Sunflower Houses : Inspiration from the Garden - A Book for Children and Their Grown-Ups
Organizing for the Creative Person: Right-Brain Styles for Conquering Clutter, Mastering T...
Dog and Bear (Neal Porter Books) (Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner-Best Picture Book) (...
These all look great Adrie. What a wonderful way to use old sweater
Although I haven’t yet attempted any of the projects in it, the book “Felt It!” by Maggie Pace has lots of fun projects in it, many of which would make wonderful homemade gifts for friends and family. I borrowed the book from my local library before I had even learned how to knit, and even though many of the projects are a bit ambitious for a novice knitter, they’re giving me something to aspire towards! My mom–a lifelong knitter, crocheter, and rug hooker–also loves the book; she took one look at the one I had borrowed and immediately ordered it.
I love the mittens and the slippers you made for Ella–they look so cozy! I think I may try the heart garland–I have two red sweaters that I inadvertently “felted” but couldn’t bear to part with. Have fun!
Hi!
Your slippers turned out super cute!
Check out my other book, Warm Fuzzies for more recycled felting projects!
Thanks,
Betz
I love felted sweaters, and use them for all sorts of things–most often, diaper covers for my baby. (Other faves: baby sweater, baby dress, stuffed animals…) I can’t imagine knitting when I could just sew up a felted sweater! (Also, knitting intimidates me.) But you’ve invented the best-ever felting technique!
[...] Felting with Adrie and Ella. Adrie has posted to her blog about a felting adventure that involved Lily, Ella, wool sweaters from the thrift store, and a bathtub full of warm water. So much fun! There are pictures of the bath as well as the projects sewn by Adrie. Check it out here: http://www.localgrain.org/fieldsandfire/2010/02/09/love-me-some-felting/ [...]
Such a fun, crafty adventure! I love seeing the results of the felting. Now I know where Ella’s super-cool slippers and mittens came from! I want to try this too. Where did you get the $1 thrifted sweaters? Is there a special section for them?
Such a blessing to have you, Ella, and Ben in our lives. LOVE!
Thanks Heather!
Kate, Thank you for the book tip, I’ll have to check it out. Two red sweaters – sounds like destiny.
Jen – salvation army, half-off wednesdays. Beware, though, it’s nutty! Thanks for a great morning tobaggoning (is that a word?)! Love.
Haha, thank you Lise! I think some felted stuffed animals are definitely in my future.
Betz,
Thank you, and thank you so much for both your incredible books! I’m totally humbled by having you here, seeing my slippers! All the best.
Toddler felting! I LOVE it! Sounds so much more fun than my washing machine version! I bet my boys will have a blast!
Jennifer, Awesome, have fun!