Scarf With Sari Silk, Wool Yarn and Beads

Laying out wool batts and tencel.

 

Pseudopodal scarf end.

 

The finished scarf.

 

Detail of sari silk, tencel, beading and embroidery.

 

Some months ago...

...I bought several large white wool batts from a Mennonite farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Rather than laying out each of my projects from scratch...

...I was eager to try out this pleasant shortcut!

In order to make the most of the batt's pre-formed nature...

...I fashioned a scarf by making semi-circular cuts from a long rectangle...

...and re-applying them as 'bumps'!

I also added lots of textured and colorful inclusions...

...tencel fibers, sari silk waste and wool yarn.

When it was finished, I thought it needed an extra jolt of color...

...so I hand-embroidered around the edges with multi-colored thread.

The surprising thing about this scarf is the way it fits...

...since the cutouts provide perfect little indentations for one's neck!

Blue Mixed Media Pillow Cover- Part 2

Fully felted pillow cover.

 

After trimming.

 

The reverse side.

 

The finished pillow cover with multiple rows of stitching.

 

As I mentioned in my last post...

...I had a little 'fiddling' to do during the felting process with this one.

I needed to roll it more in one direction than the other...

...in order to make up for shrinkage along the length of the silk pieces.

Somehow, it's always surprising to me how the mere act of trimming things square...

...makes such a profound difference in their appearance!

Some of my readers may not know that I used to sew a bit before I learned to felt...

...and have quite a lot of fabric languishing in drawers and cupboards upstairs.

It makes me feel happy to be able to choose a piece that coordinates with each pillow...

...and give it a true purpose! Grin.

If you double-click the photos of the pillow front (to enlarge them)...

...you'll notice the odd thing that happened to my pale blue merino-tencel wisps.

They have faded altogether to white!

Very strange.
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I did a lot of felting last week (yay!)...

...and tried a couple of larger projects that...well...I'm not quite happy with. :(

Leave me a comment if you're getting a little tired of pillow covers, and would like a break...

...and I'll show you one of my garment efforts next, instead! Har.

Blue Mixed Media Pillow Cover- Part 1

Dyed Mawata silk hankie.

 

Wisps of hand-dyed merino-tencel roving.

 

Strips of re-purposed silk blouse and wisps and blobs of blue roving.

 

Overdyeing with icing dye.

 

One of the fun things about making lots of different versions of one item...

...is that you end up making samples without actually having to sample!

Sure, I understand the rationale for it, and love the idea, even...

...but since science is a big part of my 'real' working life...

...I think it's worth a few spectacular failures now and then...

...in order to keep my felting life a little less scientifically rigorous. Grin.

I bought some hand-dyed Mawata silk hankies at a Sheep and Wool Festival a year or so ago...

...and had been wanting to use them.

I layered the pulled-apart hankie and shiny merino-tencel roving bits...

...then covered them with layers of white roving, wetted the piece, and flipped it over.

Next, I cut strips from a silk, thrift store blouse...

...and anchored them with wisps and blobs of two colors of blue roving.

It was interesting to note (sampling-wise)...

...that the blue silk strips caused the piece to shrink disproportionately along their length.

When it was fully felted, but still wet...

...I overdyed it with a bit of 'teal' Wilton icing dye.

Next time...

...the finshed pillow.

(You may be surprised, as I was, at the color of the merino-tencel bits!)