Felting book by India

I purchased this book on felting for $20 when I was in Lincraft recently. The RRP is $29.95.

Once home I was surprised to discover that India Flint is one of the authors, along with Toyoko Sugiwaka. I didn’t hear a mention of this book during her recent workshop. Maybe because it was published in 2007 and I am one of the last people to hear about it. It’s an inspirational book. Details of the book can be found here.

India Flint Workshop

I had a wonderful five days at the workshop organised by SouthWest TAFE and led by India Flint – learning how to colour cloth with ecologically sustainable dyes from plants.

India is a r(eco)fashion designer, writer, feltmaker, cloth colourist & costumiere.

Jill was there.

Rocky and Sue also.

And Judy as well. Judy teaches textile subjects at SouthWest TAFE.

We went in search of plants. We felted. We experimented. We watched pots boil. We got excited about opening bundles of cloth.

India Flint

A small selection of our resulting work.

Admiring a completed “landskin” by India.

A new felting experience

I spent a therapeutic day last week at a felting workshop run by two travelling ladies. They work under the business name of Garments and Gadgets. At this stage their web site is still under construction but it should be up and about very soon.

Jenny and Clare have a ginormous recreational vehicle they use for living and travelling around regional areas. At the moment they are stationed in Warrnambool and have already spent a couple of months running workshops and have enough bookings to stay indefinitely.

I started by doing their Introduction to Felting class and learnt quite a bit. Their felting methods are quite methodical which produces a consistent cloth. Next I will do their Nuno Felting class.

This scarf is made from 100% merino wool and is very soft to the touch. Because of the technique taught I was able to get the felt quite fine and lightweight – not at all heavy.

This photo is a bit of self indulgence. My father with my four grandchildren.

Felting Lilies

Still cramming everything in at the last hour. As part of the Experimental Textiles course I am doing with SW TAFE, a sample depicting CONTAIN had to be completed. The night before doing this, I was flicking through a magazine when I saw this photo of lilies - I have a bit of an obsession with this shaped lily in my art work.

It gave me the idea to do some felting CONTAINING this lily image, well, an approximation of it anyway.
So... I chose three of the lilies for their shape and placed a mix of orange and yellow wool over a layer of greens. It's not quite as simple as it sounds. I did put a bit of groundwork into it.


Now time for lots of elbow grease in the form of soapy water and agitation to get those fibres to hook onto each other. I must have done a good job because it shrunk so much more than I expected- more length wise than width wise so my lilies are fat. Before felting, it was very close to the same size as the bubble wrap. Felting is definitely not an exact science.

Next step - machine embroidery - another new skill I am just getting to know.

Yep, the leaves look a bit odd, but it is EXPERIMENTAL textiles and I am having so much fun experimenting.

Following is what I had hoped to be their shape, thanks to a bit of elongation in Photoshop.

And here is another piece I added to my samples folder for the CONTAIN subject, which is basically drawing pictures with the sewing machine. I hope I've got enough life left for all the ideas I have swimming around in my head.

More felting...

Where on earth do bloggers find the time to create AND blog so frequently. I am completely mystified how some creators make incredible stuff as well as update their blog almost daily. Anyway, today I had close to the perfect day. I felted all afternoon at a relaxed pace. Bliss. And these are the results - done specifically for the Experimental Textile course I am doing at South West TAFE. Felting is just a wee part of the course, but I find all the rolling and bashing very therapeutic.

Beautiful wool tops from Lara Downs - felted unbelievably quickly, even though I am no expert. Few threads and silk fibres for embellishment.
Half way through the process.
And voila! Oh btw, this is not meant to be a hat, well it will go in the grandkids dress up tub in the end, but it has another job first. And that is to be in a student exhibition hanging the other way up from the ceiling with it's two partners...and here they are.
A really good link to felting instructions for beginners can be found here at Fibre Fusion.


Couldn't resist including this photo - granddaughter no. 2, taken today, during a visit to Granny's.

I have so many great photos of my grandchildren but daughter no. 2 gets a tad nervous about having her children on the web. However, this one is unidentifiable and belongs to daughter no. 1.

Purchases from traders at the Geelong Forum

I can't resist this yarn from Lara Downs. When I make a trip to Melbourne, a visit to the Lara Downs shop in Victoria Street, Fitzroy, is something I get very excited about. I'm in the process of knitting an absolutely gorgeous scarf from yarn I purchased previously - nearly finished. Will post a pic of it when I'm done. This yarn is top quality and oh so beautiful to touch - very luscious. And I've just ordered even more via email. The solid colour is a cashmere silk blend of 2 ply and the boucle is from mulberry silk.

Thought this may come in handy adding little curly tufts to felting projects.

Also couldn't resist this purely because of the intensity of the colours. It is for felting highlighters - mulberry silk hankies also from Lara Downs.

Even though I am relatively new to felting, I have now felted with a few different fibres. These merino tops, again from Lara Downs took me by surprise at how quickly they felted. Hope to do some felting on the weekend. Will post pics.

Felting @ Rocky's

Recently spent a day at Rocky's for a day of felting, with Kaye and Jill. We spent before lunch wandering the farm, mainly checking out the alpacas, and then after lunch the felting began.

This poor girl needs a trip to the orthodontist.

Checking out the fleeces, an area of extreme ignorance for me. But not for Kaye or Jill. Kaye earned a living from spinning and Jill was a sheep judge at Shows.

This pile of wool turned into a pair of child's boots. Was quite pleased with the results. Jill made a pair of slippers and Kaye made a hat for her large head. Rocky was too busy directing our efforts to get anything made. Rocky is a felter from way, way back.

Felting @ Rocky's

These two babies are being trained on a lead so they behave properly at shows. Update: Greystoke, the alpaca second from left, came first in his class @ The Royal Melbourne Show.

Just liked this image. Kaye bought wool that she had dyed naturally, from a long time ago. She wasn't sure whether she would need it for felting or not. She didn't.

Felting - 50th birthday present for Annie

For Annie's birthday I wanted to make her a pouch for her very well worn yoga book. It is literally falling apart and held together by a rubber band. Kaye had told me blues and greens were her favourite colours. So I set up on front patio and had a very cathartic experience...


I added some silk fibre of brilliant colour. This was all very experimental as I haven't done much felting - have only just got into it, but I love it.


It was very much working things out as I went. I actually ran out of blues and greens when it came to doing the back of the pouch so I had to add some crimson coloured felt. I haven't got a great variety of felt yet, YET being the operative word.

What are the best places for acquiring felt? When I initially started bloggin' I thought there would be no way I'd get any visitors other than family and friends. Well, I still haven't informed family and friends. However, I have had two people leave comments to my amazement, therefore the question at the start of the paragraph. I have hope that someone may actually answer it.

Had to also work out how to form the shape of a pouch with a flap for closure. Was pleased with the results. The size was a bit hit and miss, with much more shrinkage length wise and not width wise. I figured Annie now has room to spare for her candles and incense.