Cutting pre-felt pieces...
...slightly larger than the resists...
...and sewing them together with nylon thread...
...enclosing the resist on just
three sides...
...so there's a 'hand opening' when they're finished.
After felting for a time...
..they start to take shape.
The mittens are turned inside-out...
...to hide the seams.
My friend Lorin, showing them off.
(The one on the
right still needs a bit more fulling and shaping.)
Lengths of silk in various weights...
...in Lorin's signature 'saturated colors'.
I recently spent four
wonderful days with my adorable friend, Lorin Fields...
...(a classmate from my garment class at Arrowmont).
While she was here, we went out for breakfast and lunch...
...made homemade waffles, cornbread and Frangelico biscotti...
...drank a bottle of red wine, some port wine and Amaretto...
...and
still managed to get a few things done in the studio! :)
By drawing around her hand and leaving a margin for shrinkage...
...I fashioned two
mitten-shaped foam floor underlayment resists.
From commercial pre-felt ('needled felt') that was hand-dyed by
another friend, Jone Rakoski...
...I cut out four mitten-shaped pieces, slightly larger than the foam resists.
After stitching around the edges with nylon thread...
...I wetted them out and gently felted them until it was safe to remove the resists.
After more felting and some shaping on a sushi mat...
...they were a perfect fit.
**************************************************************************************
The pile of luscious silk fabrics were a gift from Lorin...
...who hand-dyes in the most wonderfully intense colors, ever!
I'll have to put my thinking cap on...
...and find a special project for each and every piece.
Thank-you, Lorin!
