Feather Your Nest Follow Up....

In my last post I told you about the 'Feather Your Nest' competition over at Stumbles & Stitches.  Wow!  That was *so* much fun!  And I stand corrected:  there were 73 entries (not 72 as previously reported - oopsie).  There was such a flurry of entries, deadlines, voting, narrowing down the field, voting again, prizes, categories of winners.... a girl can get confused!!  I nearly missed the fact that my Falling Leaves Pillow was voted one of the top ten favorites by some pretty impressive judges!  Thank you, dear judges for the recognition!

Forgive me if I've mentioned this before, but I've been up to my eyebrows in felty wool felt (an nuthin' BUT felty wool felt) for over three years now, and have not taken the time to do much stitching.  It seems as though the universe is calling out to me to change my ways and come up out of the felt mines once in a while and enjoy the pleasures of my sewing room once again.  I remember once upon a time when I was actually designing patterns... hmmm.....

Inspiration, Collaboration and Serendipity!

You might want to make yourself a cuppa tea for this post - lots of links and pictures and stories!  This is the blog post I promised a few days ago when I left you with a little teaser of what I was working on...

I made something!  Yay!  I'm usually up to my eyeballs in the Felt Mines doing all the things I do on a regular basis to keep my business running smoothly.  But lately I've had an overwhelming urge to make something, and an underwhelming urge to find the time.  But thanks to an internet connection with Erin of Clever Charlotte and that rare and wondrous thing called serendipity, I made an Embroidery Folder!  

It all started when Erin was inspired by the colors in this artwork by Alyssa Nassner of SmallTalkStudio.

Erin wondered if I could pull together some of my wool felt colors to recreate Alyssa's unique palette in her 'Dream Catcher' print  (silly goose... I can recreate any palette!!) for an embroidery/needle case she wanted to make for herself.  Here are the colors I chose:


Baby Yellow
Yellow Green
Avocado
Blush Pink
Coral Pink
Coral
Grey
Slate Grey

Once I saw this pretty pile of wool felt, I started thinking about a project that had been brewing in my mind for quite some time...an Embroidery Folder using parts and pieces cut with dies.  My name, Felt On The Fly, comes from the fact that I love to design 'on the fly'!  It always starts with a need, which fuels my creativity and off I go - designing from my imagination.

Erin and I decided that we would each design our own project using the same color palette and compare results when we were done.  You can see her finished project right here. 

 My wool felt cuts like a dream with most of the popular dies available in craft stores and on-line.  I used just three Sizzix dies for all of the parts and pieces shown here.

The largest pieces were cut with the Sizzix 'Pocket Page and Tag' die which requires the huge Sizzix Big Shot Pro Die Cutting Machine.  The smaller embellishments were cut with the Sizzix 'Flower Layers #7' die and the Sizzix 'Jungle Leaves' die using the smaller, more manageable Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine.  

I knew I'd need lots of pockets for my Embroidery Folder because I like to carry lots of bits and pieces around while I'm designing and stitching.  Lucky for me, the 'Pocket Page and Tag' die includes holes - so much neater than trying to make little slices with scissors!  Those holes made it really easy to insert metal rings to keep the pocket pages lying flat when the Folder is open. 

Some creative cutting and folding and stitching ensued and, what the heck, why not toss in a few sparkly little beads too... and here's what the inside of my Embroidery Folder looks like:

There are three layers of pockets.  Each of the top two layers open like a book.  The bottom layer is one large pocket.  I used the tag die cuts to make a needlebook and a handy little layered pocket for reading glasses and my needle threader - both of those little extras fit right inside the Embroidery Folder making one nice, neat little package.


I cut out embellishments using the same color palette and used those embellishments to repeat the theme of Alyssa's artwork. 

And finally, so you can get an idea of how all of this looks when it's actually being used...here it is, stuffed with the bits and pieces of my next project!

Here's a few close-ups of some of the detail work...

The three-dimensional flower is actually three flower die cuts, folded in quarters, embellished with beads and stitched together.






 I love the 'Jungle Leaf' die.  Looks just like a feather, don't you think?

And here's the simple leaf/feather design again - simply embellished with minimal embroidery and a few tiny beads.

All done!  Easy peasy!  Thanks, Erin, for the unintentional wool felt project throw down!  I look forward to the next challenge, whether it's matching a color palette or designing another project on the fly....

It's a Big Felt Universe Out There!

Tis true!  It *is* a big felt universe! Everywhere you look these days there is felt.  And of course, we all know that there are lots of different types of felt.  And I'll bet you've heard of and/or worked with several types, but did you know that not all felts are created equal?  I've said those words a bazillion times and the truth of that statement hit home for me once again today, but in a slightly different way.

Let's talk about wool felt (ha!  no surprise that I'd want to talk about wool felt, is it?!).  I just added a brand new listing in my shop for a big fluffy pile of felty wool felt ***and*** Jeanette Lim's book "Big Little Felt Universe".

After browsing through the book, ooh'ing and ahh'ing over the adorable projects (at least 70 of them - all in one book!!), I decided to take a gander at the fine print.  The author states 'Not all felt is created equally.' Sweet!  I thought I'd found someone of like mind.  However, sadly enough, the author goes on to express her opinion that 100% wool felt is 'too thick' for the projects featured in her book. WHAT??? Clearly, dear author, you have not tried my luscious pure wool felt.  That comment truly does make me sad as I can completely assure you, dear readers, that my felt is the *perfect* felt for the cute projects featured in this book : )

My point is that not even 100% wool felts are created equal.  "SERIOUSLY?" you may ask...  Yes, seriously.  How could that be?  Wool is wool, right?  Well, it's actually kind of simple.  There are hundreds of different breeds of sheep.  Each one producing a wool fiber.  But different sheep produce fiber specific to that sheep.  Sure, it's still all 100% wool, since, after all, that's what a sheep's fiber is.... but some fiber can be thick, or thin, or long, or short, or thick, or stiff, or curly or straight.  And then you have to factor in exactly how that fiber is processed into felt.  And of course there's the dyes that color the fiber that are to be considered.  It all makes a huge difference in the end product. 

Perhaps the author of Big Little Felt Universe used a 100% wool felt from Nepal.  Holy smokes, now there's some thick, stiff felt!  Totally not the best choice for the projects in the book.  Or maybe she used a 100% wool felt that was hand-felted.  Most likely, that would be too thick because as wonderful as us humans are, we generally can't process fiber to the extent that a machine can.  Perhaps she used a 100% wool felt that was something other than merino and initially created and processed for an application other than crafting.  And in that instance, the felt may have been processed harshly and dyed with environmentally un-friendly dyes.  That type of wool felt wouldn't be the best choice for her projects either. 

It just makes me a little sad when I read something that's just tossed out to the masses as if it were fact - something that is a misinformed generalization.  Yes, it's true.  All felts are not created equal.  Even when they are 100% wool.  Because there are several other important aspects to consider, as mentioned above. 

If you're looking for a pure wool felt for hand stitching, you won't find anything better than my pure merino wool felt.  This felt was specifically created for handcrafts exactly like those pictured in the book.  It's created from one of the finest wool fibers available.  Because it's completely natural wool, the fibers felt together with very little energy (and that's environmentally friendly!).  This felt is fine, strong, color-saturated, color-fast, fade-resistant and toxin-free.   Not only is my felt the perfect thickness for hand or machine stitching, it cuts like a knife thru warm buttah, holds stitches beautifully,  and can be hand-washed and air-dried.

So there ya have it.  Felty sets the record straight : )  I feel so much better now.