Wet-Felted Studio Curtains- Part 2 of 2

One completed curtain...

...with sunlight shining through it.

Another finished valance...

...and one window-sized curtain.

A close-up view of the inclusions, back-lit by the sun...

...including a bit of an unfinished crochet project that I found in a thrift store.

A slightly thicker curtain, made in a similar fashion, was made for the room next-door.

Three of the four finished studio curtains.

As I was working on the curtains for the studio...

...I decided to make an additional one for the room next door, as well.

I guess I figured, "In for a penny, in for a pound!!" :)

It's a slightly thicker twin to the one in my studio...

...and these two oddly placed windows were once niches for room air-conditioning units...

...in the days before 'central air'.

I think you'll agree that the curtains look best with sunlight shining through them...

...but regardless of the time of day, they certainly have made a nice change in the studio.

Wet-Felted Studio Curtains- Part 1 of 2

'Log cabin quilt' valances from my days as a 'sewist'.

Laying out one layer of domestic wool roving...

...and adding silk yarn, tussah silk, lace, and pieces of silk fabric. 

During fulling...note the shrinkage!

After ironing and drying.

Pinning and marking stitching lines for the rod pocket.

All ready to sew!

I have four studio windows...

...that were sorely in need of new curtains.

I had been musing about this project for some time, but without a clear direction...

...and then came the votive candle holders at Christmas-time!

It suddenly struck me that this sheer, white, luminous look was what I was after, all along...

...and I knew exactly what I needed to do!

Since I wanted 'unfussy' valances with irregular borders...

...(I had had enough geometry with my quilt-block ones)...

...I decided to use domestic wool roving that I had on hand.

It's a bit rough and not pure white in color...

...and I love the little 'hairy bits' that I found in it while felting. :)

Instead of placing the embellishments on the outside of the felt, like I did with the votive holders...

...I 'sandwiched' them between two thin layers of roving, instead.

I used small bits of any white or off-white fiber, fabric or yarn that I found in my stash...

...and placed them roughly parallel to each other during my layout.

After adding a second layer of fiber (perpendicular to the first)...

...I proceeded to felt the piece as usual.

To make the finished pieces wide enough for adequate coverage (including gathers for fullness)...

...I laid out roving two-and-a-half times the width of each window...

...and one-and-a-half times the height.

Next time: the finished valances in situ.