Click to access felt-scrap-bowl-tutorial.pdf
It has been a busy month for me, with family visits, and babysitting duties. With all that excitement I had totally forgotten that my scheduled post for the forum was due until the other day. What to do?
I have been wanting to try Ruth’s scrap felt tutorial for a little while, so I thought this is an ideal time to try my hand and make a bowl. The link for Ruth’s tutorial is above.
I have some pieces of commercial scrap felt in a variety of colours, bought some time ago from a craft shop sale. I also have some small pieces of me made felt. Some glittery yarn was used. I found some Madeira Avalon water soluble firm stabilizer in a cupboard. I used a 12″square of the Avalon, or rather 2 squares of it, and sandwiched the felt pieces, and the glittery yarn in the middle. Ruth suggests to very lightly dampen the felt pieces to stop them moving about; I very lightly spritzed the arranged felt pieces before placing the water soluble Avalon on top. This definitely stopped the pieces moving. I placed a few pins around the edges to secure, and transferred to my sewing machine.
Stitching, was as Ruth suggests, in a circular pattern starting around the outside edge, and working towards the centre. Then further stitching in a spindle/spoke pattern to further secure all the pieces. All the pins are now removed and nothing is moving! Then I made some small circles all over the piece in a different thread colour.
Completed stitching, top and bottom.
The water soluble material was trimmed and I rinsed the piece in some hot water, for perhaps 20 – 30 seconds. Ruth suggests that some of the stabilizer should remain to help stiffen the bowl as it dries. I placed the felt over a glass dish to dry overnight.
I changed the dish to a tin of beans after an hour or so, and I think it will provide a better final shape. I am really pleased with the outcome, so much so I made another bowl and that is drying just now. The second bowl is more ‘holey’ than the first, both are very firm, and wondering if I should have rinsed out more of the water soluble.
Photos of completed bowls, and holding some spools of thread (4 large, 7 small).
Thanks for the tutorial Ruth, I really enjoyed making them.