Kim Taylor - aka "The Sassy Crafter" - wrote with news that her recycled sweater bags have been featured in Stephanie Girard's new book, Sweater Surgery!
The book features several of Kim's original patterns, including my favorite, "The Cheerleader." This little leopard number is also a fave.
Stop on over to Kim's blog to check out the post on this new book, and Kim's other cool crafts.
It's been awhile since I've done anything with felted sweaters. Just not the right weather, I guess. But I love these 'creatures' EveryLittleThing is making. A good use of sleeves and very cute!
I'm still cruising Etsy, and tonight I found this bird mobile from Mosey.
My love affair with felt began at Robin Richman in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood.
That's where I first saw Karin Wagner's felt flower jewelry. I love the intense pigments in this necklace.
I own two Karin Wagner pieces - a flower brooch and ring. The ring covers nearly half the fingers on my right hand. It's hard to have a bad day when you have that on your finger.
Mike and I drove down to Prineville on Saturday so that I could check out the High Desert Wool Growers annual Fiber Market.
I felt lucky to find some beautiful hand-dyed wool roving at $2 a bat.
At last, I can do this felted rock project from Cynthia Treen's Last-Minute Fabric Gifts.
(Photo credit: Karen Phillipi)
This beauty uses a simple version of traditional Japanese shibori in the sweater felting process.
Betz White has a complete tutorial for this scarf on Knitty.
Knitty also has dozens upon dozens of fab knitting patterns that are a little left of center. I like Piggle .
I made a quick pitstop at The Quilt Gallery on my trip to Montana and found a great book by Betsy Chutchian and Betty Edgell.
Cotton & Ewe: Quilts Pincushiuons, Pillows and Wallhangings looks like a quilting book from the outside, but on the inside, there are countless project ideas for people who love felted wool.
This wool throw is made from recycled wool sportcoats and skirts. It's very simple to make and masculine enough to give a guy as a gift.
If you'd like to work with recycled suits but need a smaller project, you might try making an acorn pincushion.
Simple instructions with photos are available online at Old School Acres' Acorn Tutorial. Have fun!
I bought a copy of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine to put inside a crafty care-package for my friend Helena in Scotland.
I'd never really looked at it before, figuring the magazine was more for mom-crafters than aging, childless types like me.
But you know? Some of the stuff in there is pretty awesome. Check out Men in Hats.
I found this great slipper project by Heather Ross in the February/March 2008 issue. The slippers are made with Heather Ross fabric and soles of felted wool. I've got felted wool. I've got fabric. I've got vintage ric-rac. Lots.
I first learned about Siamese twins Lori and Reba Schappell in the BBC documentary Sisters of Hope. Like all conjoined twins, the Schappell sisters have to negotiate each of their individual desires and tastes within a shared body. One twin became a Mormon, the other a country western singer.
While we were flying through turbulence, I remembered the Schappell twins saying that they could go "invisible" when it was needed, to allow the other twin privacy and space to pursue their own interests.
They said they go inside their own minds, calmly unavailable and emotionally distant to the other twin during individual involvements. A mammoth compromise for two people joined at the head.
I tried to do this while we were flying, to keep my nervousness inside so Mike could pilot without having to deal with my emotional freakouts. It worked for me, but it confused him when I got so quiet, and really weirded him out when I tried to explain it to him later. One of those things that should never be said out loud, I guess.
So it was no small comfort when I came across these "Fierce Bunnies" made by Canadian artist Sonja Ahlers.
They speak to me, not only because of what I'd just been thinking about siamese twins, but because they are made from recycled angora sweaters.
That's the ultimate re-use: returning the bunny to the bunny.
My sewing closet is OVERFLOWING, so I've decided to sell some of the best quality vintage items from my stash.
I think some of these florals would look great cut up and embroidered with crewel wool on a felted sweater pincushion.
Visit my shop and you'll find this and other vintage crewel embroidery kits and hot iron transfers!
I found these great looking recycled sweater baby booties while trolling the internet this morning. Heather, who made them, created a pattern from a pair of baby socks she had on hand.
In her blog entry, she said that the only thing wrong with them is that they are way too easy for a baby to pull off. I'm wondering if a small piece of elastic in the cuff might do the trick. Any thoughts?
Heather publishes an independent D-I-Y magazine called Croq. Check it out.
The 'Bitty Bird Pouches' designed by Popsiedaisy have inspired me. I've been needing a little pouch for my knitting notions for this bag. I can easily pick up the bird theme and I know I have a coordinating sweater in my felted collection.
I LOVE this. It reminds me of what got me interested in felted sweater projects in the first place! Crispina Fuschia blankets.
The only problem? I can never find enough coordinating sweaters to make anything big. This is a great project for smaller pieces.
Be sure to check out Square One Studio's felted sweater quilts and toys...
I'm one of those people that saves everything - even the scraps cut from my felted sweater projects. So when I came across this gem of a project on the Bernina website, I couldn't have been happier.
The pincushions were designed for Bernina by Linda Lenich and Jennifer Zoeterman, the owners of Pure Wool, Inc., a needle felting supply company in Chicago, Illinois.
You can download Bernina's directions by clicking here: Download berninapincushion.pdf If you don't know how to needle felt, you can still add beautiful designs to the pincushion with crewel wool and some simple embroidery stitches. Have fun!
These are made with 100% wool felt sewn together with embroidery floss and embellished with beads. A quick and easy project that would make a great stocking stuffer or last minute gift. You could even monogram them and use the stars as gift tags.
Since I've got such a stash of old sweaters to recycle, I'll probably use those instead of wool felt. I've got a felted cashmere sweater in Christmas red that would be perfect. You'll find Molly's felt star tutorial here.
It was like a Close Encounter of the Felt Kind.
The designer Tanya Aguiniga of Aguiniga Design and her trusty girl/assistant dressed up in hot pink tights, go-go boots and factory-girl dresses.
Doing a real, live chair felt in the crush of Design Miami. By far, my favorite project of the week.
It wasn't until I returned home that I found the time to check the website. And now I love everything about her.
The felt outfits she makes for balloons, the "forest" sleeping roll, the foam lounger that embraces you while you sleep.
Scroll through the Aguiniga Design Gallery to see these projects - you'll be delighted.
Poppytalk Handmade is selling these Christmas stockings crafted from recycled wool and fur.
I often see pieces of fur at vintage and antique stores, but I'm never sure how to use it.
I like the idea of using fur as trim, maybe for some recycled sweater hats?
I made some wonderfully soft cashmere bunnies out of some felted sweater scraps. They fit right in the palm of my hand.
The weather has turned chilly and all of the sudden, I want to sew like a fury.
Last week, I made these 1920s Cloche-style hats out of felted cashmere sweaters.
The hats are embellished with silk velvet ribbon and vintage deco belt buckles. You can see them a little better if you click on the photos.
The pattern came from Cynthia Treen's Last-Minute Fabric Gifts.
I love to make things out of felted sweaters, so I was really happy to see these projects in the latest issue of Marie Claire Idees.
But I have way too many unfinished projects as it is. So I'm sending off my favorite cashmere cardigan to Kim Taylor, the Sassycrafter, for "re-purposing."
I came across this photo on her flickr site, and promptly put a request in for a custom order.
This charcoal grey sweater was made of the best quality cashmere - which must be why something chewed a hole in it over the summer.
Kim has free reign to alter the sweater in whatever way she chooses - I can't wait to see how it turns out! In the meantime, check in to Kim's websites to see what she's got going on!
I haven't done much sewing lately, I guess its just a winter thing.
But, I did finally finish caulking and painting my art studio on Saturday - at last! So I celebrated with a cherry wheat beer and a little needlework on the deck.
I whipped this custom onesie for a friend who had a baby not too long ago. I also finished a pink pig, cut from my collection of felted sweaters.
Yesterday, I blogged about my plans to make a series of felt stuff animals or "softies" from an idea published in Martha Stewart Living. Before I cut into my precious stash of felted sweaters, I wanted to try out the patterns to get a better idea of how the animals would come together.
So last night, I whipped up this pig softie using fabric from Heather Bailey's Freshcut fabric line. You might remember that I ordered a fat quarter assortment of her line last month. I love him! He looks great in a print and I will definitely have to make more to sell in my etsy shop.
Working on sewing a stuffed pig after a couple of weeks of time on my free style embroidery project made me realize why I've been enjoying my sewing projects so much this year. Sometimes, it's just really nice to be told what to do and how to do it. I choose the fabric and at the end of the day, I have something to show for it without having to make too many other decisions.
Working on the bird and getting digital images ready for my Miranda Lake workshop yield more nebulous results. The results of these projects will have to be born from my own raw imaginings, and I definitely feel the pressure to come up with something good. Same with my professional consulting business - it all has to come from me. So its nice to take a couple of hours at the end of the day to sew a stuffed pig. You know?
On a visit to Bend, Oregon, I stopped by Goodwill and picked up a handful of wool and cashmere sweaters to put in my studio inventory. This week, I felted the sweaters for this stuffed animal project that I had seen in Martha Stewart Living last year.
When I looked on Google for instructions on felting sweaters, I didn't find very many helpful posts. So here is everything you need to know about felting a sweater for your projects:
1) I think we all put a borrowed sweater in the washing machine in high school, right? So remember that experience when choosing sweaters to work with. They will shrink significantly during the felting process so make sure you don't get too attached to your project idea until you figure out if you'll have enough wool.
2) In order for a sweater to felt properly, it must be 100% wool. I also love to make soft toys out of cashmere, but cashmere will not felt as tightly as wool.
3) Machine the sweaters (separately, by color) with a small amount of laundry soap and hot water.
4) Machine dry the sweaters on high heat until dry. (Save your beautifully colored dryer lint to make handmade paper another day.) If you can cut the sweater and it doesn't fray, it's felted.
Your felted sweaters can be used to sew mittens, pillows, blankets, tote bags, ipod cozies and much, much more!
