First Felt 2012

First Felt…isn’t that a glorious notion?
The other night was movie night here, and I was not that into it, so I ventured outside into the darkness and illuminated my studio….What a refreshing time. I never think to go out there in the evenings……usually by then I’m pretty tired anyway. But it was delightful. To have the radio on, my warm lights, and just me…in my space.I started working on a tunic design I have in mind for Fall 2012. Working on a small fashion and accessory line, combining felt, raw locks, shibori dyeing and fabric inlays… 

When working on larger projects I try and do the layout and first felting in the afternoon/evening, then leave it overnight, and finish the felting in the morning. The rest for both me and the felt seem to make the felting go so quickly! This piece took quite a bit of planning. First the math to get to template sizing right to allow for shrinkage. Fabric inlays? Or Shibori? or the crazy Racka locks? Colours in relation to overdyeing? Stitching, to be felted in, or done after, and what colour? As a first sample in this line, I was more interested in experimentation, so it got a little of everything…

These photos show the tunic at 2/3’s felted, ready for shibori, stitching and first dyeing. This is the neck detail, with black linen, racka wool locks, and wensleydale locks.

Fiona

PS- I can’t believe my spell check has no sheep breed names in it….is there a special spell check language that felters can use?!