Solvy vest in progress

So I have made the left front of the solvy vest and so far so very good, having fab results, loving the solvy, here are some pics of the process. My sewing machine at home is behaving itself for the time being, hopefully it holds out, I need it for it's zig zag stitch!

The mistake that turned into a scarf

So when went to Lincraft to buy some wool to felt in the washing machine, I had a bit of a brain lapse and bought wool that was 50% wool and 50% acrylic. Did it felt in the washing machine? No, of course not, silly me! I was determined not to waste my $15 of wool, so I tried it in the washing machine again, this time with some 100% wool mohair, I had some success with this felting onto the acrylic/wool blend. I ended up with this tangle of semi felted strands, so I thought why not make this into a scarf. I threaded a few fake flower petals, sounds a bit weird, looks effective. I cast onto one end of my semi felted mess and will knit this end of the scarf and then cast off, then I will cast on to the other end of the strands and knit the other end of the scarf. I am knitting the scarf with 100% cream mohair, double strands. So scarf is a work in process to be an accessory as part of my final range.

The Felted Vest

I thought I would upload a few pictures of the making of the felted vest, considering I have to do it all at home because it's such a messy process! The first few images show when I have laid the light blue wool tops, I have put up an image which shows how high this lay becomes as you cross hatch the layers. Then there is an image of the left front of the vest which is being scrubbed and rubbed with water, detergent and a scrunched up plastic bag as part of the felting process. Then there are images of the vest on the stand, when I took these images the vest was just pinned together, I have decided that I will overlap the seams and sew them together from the outside and have top stitching detail at the side and shoulder seams. This will mean that the raw edges, which are a feature of the vest will not be hidden in a seam. I am very pleased with the way the edges in particular have turned out, I love how the blue layer has squashed from underneath and is peeking out at the edges of the vest.

Felted jewellery

My lovely mum took these photos of felted jewellery for me when she was in Bendigo recently. Nice to look at other ways felt is being applied, I like the necklace in particular, I have been playing around with some felted jewellery ideas in my 2D folio myself. Some handstitched 3D objects and so on, I must photograph them and put it up on my blog.

Tops

So I am pretty excited, just purchased some of these wool tops from Yarn Barn's online store, very high tech I know! Looking forward to receiving my package in the mail, hopefully the colours on the computer screen will match the actual colours of the tops! Will wait and see. These light blue and cream tops will be used as the base layer underneath the hand dyed beige/brown wool tops that I have from Bustles and Bows. This will give me more thickness and mean that the hand dyed wool tops will be the feature on the top layer of the felt pieces.

Colour Palette

This image is pretty much a perfect representation of my colour palette. The neutral tones, browns and cream are the colours of my hand dyed wool tops. Included in my colour palette will also be a light blue. The natural fibres in this montage truly represent where my colour palette is coming from.

Kyoko

These are images of Kyoko Osato's work. Kyoko is a hand weaver based in Melbourne and her scarves can be found at Craft Victoria. She studied Textile Design at RMIT in Melbourne majoring in weaving. Her scarves are woven on a floor loom and then felted by hand using a plastic glove. Her designs are intended to be practical with simple structure, colour palette and aesthetic. I like the texture and simplicity of her work. He colour choice is subtle and soothing. I am hoping to interview Kyoko for my Report, I have emailed her and am waiting for a reply, fingers corssed! Click on this body of text and it will take you to her website.