Life ramblings and the journey through adoption.
So as most of you now know, Narda got me a sewing machine for Chanukah. This has unleashed my inner crafty person. She comes and goes in cycles, and currently, she is here with a vengance! There are three words that I forget to so often associate with Oregon (where I am from, and where we are right now): "NO SALES TAX."
Add to that LARGE, suburban sprawl craft stores, thrift stores and After Christmas Sales - and um, I'm sending a box home. PLUS, Janet gave me a TON of her old fabric scraps. I'm am SO PSYCHED. I have yarn and fabric for days. It's GREAT. I have also discovered this new thing called "wool felting." I have a little coin purse made out of the stuff, and it's really cute - it looks like someone crocheted a large purse, and then oops, put it in the wash. And in actuality, that's what they did. The key is to use 80% or higher wool content, and then wash it in HOT water, rinse in cold, and plop in the dryer. So I SCORED at Value Village today, as it was "yellow tag 99 cents day." And I got 4 wool skirts and two wool blazers for 6 bucks. I've just cut them up, and will try "felting" some pieces before I sew, and then try sewing a few pieces before I felt. I also got a 100% wool blanket for 5 bucks. I'll felt that one, too, but not for beauty's sake. Just because it's a blanket, and I actually want to use it as a blanket. So hot water will make it clean.
I hope you are all enjoying this holiday time, and beware if you start getting crafty things in the mail.
8 comments:
Shelli-
My mom is waaaayyy into felting wool. She made the most awesome primitive quilt for me that won a blue ribbon at the AK state fair. It is a really beautiful art form and I'm glad to see you getting into it. I look forward to seeing what handy dandy things you come up with.
Felting is FUN!! I've bought up a bunch of sweaters at Goodwill and felted them to make bags and such.
Woman's Day had an article about it here: http://www.womansday.com/article.asp?article_id=9818§ion_id=3
Have fun!!
Are you nesting? I wish I could be crafty. I'm jealous. You should start selling stuff online!
Have you tried knitting at all? One of my favorite - and oh so simple - things to do is felting something I have knit! You can make awesome bags and purses this way and the best part is - felting is forgiving so they don't have to be knit perfectly!
can it be crochete? And does it have to be wool yarn? That would be fun to try, too.
I have SO many projects going on now, and thank goodness dad and Janet have a POWERFUL washing machine and dryer (and vacuum!) -there are little fuzzies EVERYWHERE!
and my big question for you felters - do you sew first, and THEN felt, or do you felt first and then sew? I have done half and half to see the results.
It has to be wool or other "natural fiber" (but not cotton). Most animal hairs will work. I've done some great felting projects with wool/mohair and alpaca/llama yarn. The mohair is COOL--felted but fuzzy. I think you can crochet or knit, just has to be pretty loose and very big.
I don't sew, but i would imagine you'd want to felt first then sew, because the thread would not shrink the same way as the wool.
Felting is FUN!! I gave a whole bunch of knitted felt things for Christmas last year--slippers, hats, mittens, baby booties (sigh...) They are wonderful!
Oh, by the way, i took a class and they recommend felting things in a pillowcase or other permeable bag so the fuzzies don't clog up the washer!
I felt first, then sew, because otherwise, your sewing could get distorted. And I second the pillowcase recommendation! I also add a couple pairs of old jeans to the washer, to help with the agitation.
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