Felt Garments!

Handdyed felted jacket made from Shetland Mule fiber.  I just need to add the buttons and maybe tweak the sleeves a little.  The scarf is nuno-felted handdyed haboti silk with a merino/tencel blend. 



Stan's vest felted from natural colored Bluefaced Leicester wool and silk gauze.

I have a long way to go in learning how to make felted garments, but so far I've made a vest for Stan and a jacket for me and I'm having a blast.   Yes, Christmas is looming up this weekend, but I've been on a creative bender.  Good thing we aren't exchanging a lot of gifts this year and everyone knows it.

I started sewing in 4th grade. I remember that I made a corduroy jumper.  I was thrilled with it until my mother mentioned that the nap didn't match (so the fabric pieces took the light slightly differently).  Drat!

Well, that became the story of my sewing life.  Along with my friends, I sewed quite a few of my own clothes during high school, but I never felt I was good enough at my finishing skills.  My hem stitches always seemed to stand out like beacons at sea and my zipper stitching always looked a little crooked.

I suppose it's like when you wallpaper your own rooms, the tiny imperfections that no one else notices glare out at you.  Gosh, now that I think about it, that's how it is with painting too. It's taken me years to realize that most people will take things as they see them, they don't pick out all the tiny little inconsistencies, they just take in the overall impression and go one their way.

Anyway, I find myself again delving into garment making. But this time with felt!  The cool thing about felt garments is that the felt becomes clay like during the fulling process and you can shape it to the desired size and shape.  And even cooler is that you can wet it back down and reshape fairly easily - at least up to a point.  And best of all - NO hems required!  No facing required either. :-)