(Finally) the Finished Hat!

 

 

 

As you can see in the top photo, I trifled with the idea of leaving the hat edge sort of free-form and 'interesting'-looking.

...but my children (and others who love me) often remind me that what is 'interesting' to me is often downright ugly to others.

...and this is a gift, after all.

Sighhhh...

So I got out my scissors and took an orderly snip all around the brim's edge.

I have to say that this is one of the qualities of felt that I enjoy the most, though...

...that unlike fabric, which always must be 'sat upon' with stitching or tucking-in of raw edges,

Felt is assertively perfect at its raw, cut edges.

I stitched one of my labels into the back to help with orientation when wearing the hat,

...and sewed on the flower.

One of my lovely daughters agreed to pose for an action shot...

...but I decided that she can wait to 'out' herself on camera when she starts her own blog.

So I made her a disguise.

She thinks that it looks really creepy.

Funny, isn't it...when the face elements were all made from photos of the most beautiful women in the world!?!?

Flower for Red Hat

 
 
 

...just to keep you in suspense a day longer, I will share the hat's accessory today.

When the hat was completed, it looked a little naked.

...what, I mused, would make this hat complete??

Bien sur! Une fleur!! (Yeesh---ok, ok...I'll stop!)

Now as you know by now, I cannot draw.

...but I have been studying nature while I walk in the mornings.

So I decided on five petals, and I used some of the variegated roving, needle-felting it into a general approximation of a flower shape.

I added a darker center, then wetted it with Dr Bronner's Magic Peppermint Castile soap in water and rolled it in the pierced rubber mat you see in the photo to wet felt it.

Have you ever taken the time to actually read the texts on a bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap? That was one crazy dude, man, but I adore his soap!! :)

When it was finished and the soap was rinsed out (first with clear water, then a vinegar rinse), I wedged my little guy into a thrifted chemistry beaker to dry in a shapely manner.

...more hat photos tomorrow!

Chapeau Rouge-Part 1

 
 
 

"Why so much French", you ask? Well, something about the making of a chapeau makes me feel tres French.

I was puzzling over what to make for my eldest daughter's soon-to-be mother-in-law for Christmas, and my daughter suggested a red hat.

...so I couldn't resist.

No, honestly...I really, really struggle with resists in felting!!

...but I put my fears aside and threw myself into the experience.

I first drafted a paper pattern, making sure that there were no pointy edges and that it was a good deal larger than my final project (see ruler for approximate size).

The resist itself is made of a piece of floating floor underlayment.

I bought a huge roll of it at a local home and garden store, and I absolutely lurve this stuff!!

I applied several layers of a slightly variegated red roving to the resist, and rolled it until the resist started rolling up inside the felt.

I cut it open and fulled it more fully :O on my glass washboard.

...then tried to fit it over a blown-up Gertie ball.

No dice.

...but then I got the bright idea of putting the collapsed ball into the hat and then blowing it up.

Et voila...un succes!!

...to be continued...

Jetsons Scarf

 

 

I was going for a retro look here...like something Jane Jetson might wear if they ever got any cold weather in Orbit City.

I wanted to make geometric designs, so I needle-felted different colors of roving in squares, circles and rectangles, trying for an 'olive effect' with the circles (putting a dab of a very different color in the middle of each piece).

Unfortunately, I applied them to a white background, and didn't match them front to back, so there's a good bit of 'show through' after the wet felting.

Sighhh.

...it's still kinda cute, though.

Plus de Nuno

 

This scarf, as usual, started as a white silk scarf blank.

...then I made a diagonal grid with purple pencil roving

...and added areas of color to the front for a 'checkerboard' look

and a couple of colors in a regular pattern to the back.

I tried to use a different set of colors together than I'm usually partial to...

...not so sure about that...

...and I ended up prefering the back to the front.

What does this mean?? :)

Rose Scarf

 

 

 

Do you have friends who help you to be better than you would be on your own?

...who 'call you out' on things that you could improve/are doing wrong/should change (now!)??

...who help you to grow in a myriad of healthy ways?

Well, I do, and this year, I wanted to make her something amazing for Christmas...so that she would know it.

Inspiration struck when I discovered Jenne Giles' rose scarves.

They are simply luscious, and her website (http://harlequinfeltworks.com) has some of the most beautiful and innovative photographs that I've seen yet in 'blogland'.

Unfortunately, this was 'before' Cardatrice (my drum carder), and I have to say that this project removed the last pitiful doubt I had as to the wisdom of acquiring one!!

I spent 8 hours just needle-felting pink and then deeper red roving on my foam pad.

The felting itself went quickly, though, once the fiber was all in place.

...and I think it will please my friend.

Heart-Felt

 

Today is Veterans Day.

...and for my neighbor who served as a Marine in WWII and who will not to this day speak of the war,

and the service man or woman who, upon discharge, jumps headlong into political action...fomenting for change

...and for every soldier in between

I want to say THANK YOU!!

You travel to foreign lands, you risk pain, injury...and death for us every day.

You toil in what to most of us would be unbearable circumstances.

...and then you come home to a family and a country which seems to have 'moved on' while you were away

...and you have to scramble to figure out how to fit back into a space which is no longer 'you-shaped'

...because you are so changed.

Of course Mr. Fred Rogers says it best:

"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility.

It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem."

Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."

Thank-you heroes!