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Month: October 2025

Jacket completion

Jacket completion

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To finish the back of my jacket, I needed to decide what pattern to stitch on the remaining back panel. I wanted it to have a similar look to the panel on the other side.

I drew another grid to help me with the design; it is a 2cm grid, again drawn with a Frixion pen. I used an egg cup to make the semi circular shapes.

The initial long oval shape I drew can be done in a portrait or landscape orientation, and it can be left like this if using a smaller grid, for example 1cm, and a smaller item to aid with drawing semi circles. I repeated the design in the opposite direction with the egg cup, and now it looks completely different.

The design has a tessellating feel to it, and I think it does look very effective; hopefully you can see this in the stitched pattern. I have taken the design up to the back yoke to match the other side. I have added some further stitching to the earlier patterns I made on the back yoke – two further circles stitched along with a pattern development on the completed circles.

Both side panels together, showing the different patterns achieved with a grid and a pen!

Extra stitching, and another couple of circles to the back yoke.

Again, I have used a variety of embroidery floss to stitch the design, and I feel that both sides compliment each other very well. Some of these patterns do look complicated to sew, but are really just a wavy line, and stitched on the diagonal. The tricky bit is where the lines meet, or cross over.

The inside of the stitched area is not too untidy, so I will leave it for now while I think about it for a little longer. I may add some lining to the yoke area especially, and I will probably sew that to the seams.

I will probably add more stitching to the jacket as time goes on, mainly to the front yokes, but I feel that it is fine for now, and time to look towards something else.

I am really glad that I made the decision to do some stitching on this jacket. I am having second thoughts about whether I should have used just one colour to stitch, but this is not classic sashiko, it is just some decorative stitching in the style of sashiko. I wear it out too.

My photos have turned out a little better I think? They look ok on here as I am typing this, and inserting them into the text, but what they will look like when posted is another story. Probably huge again. Pale denim with some stitching on does not make for good photography I feel. One photo looks a little blurred as I am writing this, but that may possibly be due to the remnants of the ‘seasonal cold’ that I have had for the last 2 weeks, but I am gradually recovering.

Felt Connect 2025

Felt Connect 2025

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As I write, nearly a week has passed since the 18th Southern Hemisphere Felters’ Convergence drew to a close but that peculiar mix of exhaustion, elation and excitement I felt as I drove home still lingers. I’m buzzing with so many ideas and happy memories! 🙂

The Felters Convergence is usually (pandemics permitting) a biennial event organised by volunteers from Australia or New Zealand. It is an opportunity for antipodean felt-makers to gather and share their knowledge and ideas. This year it was held in the beautifully quaint and historic suburb of Parnell in Auckland, New Zealand.

Before we arrived we were invited to “bring your smile”, a common refrain for anyone attending a social event but this time there was a twist…. We were to arrive with a smile and leave with a smile…. a felted smile! 🙂

Christine Roxburgh and Jenny Forrester (our very talented and incredibly hard-working organisers) put together an amazing, fun-packed program over the 4 days we had together. At almost any given moment there were 3 to 4 different classes or talks taking place and if that wasn’t enough, there was a room full of traders selling all manner of fibres, fabrics and felting equipment and a fabulous felt exhibition to visit. They REALLY crammed a lot in to the 4 days!

A small selection of pieces in the exhibition:

As Christine explained at the opening dinner, the Felt Connect title was a nod to the underlying philosophy of Convergence where feltmakers from far and wide come together to not only share their knowledge and love of fibre arts but also where new connections and international friendships form.

We had just shy of 100 attendees, 30 of whom were visiting from Australia and one came all the way from the US! Our headline tutors were equally international with Nancy Ballesteros from Western Australia, Katia Mokeyeva from Vermont in the US and Jacqui Collins from New Zealand.

Nancy taught for 3 very full days, covering topics such as:

  • colour theory for fibre artists
  • making properly fulled but beautifully drape-able felt in the Art of Drape class
  • the saucily titled, “Hanky Panky” session where she suggested lots of different ways to incorporate silk hankies into your felt
  • the Natural Rhythms class where she shared how she uses Fibonacci’s design principles in conjunction with her colour theory lecture from day 1. This allowed us the perfect opportunity to put some of what we had learned from her colour theory talk into practice while exploring wet-wool layout techniques.

Our sessions with Katia were a technological leap forward for Convergence, having someone teach 100 felt-makers from a different continent was novel and gave us the chance to learn from an expert that most of us will never have the opportunity to meet in person.

An example of Katia’s “Sea Waves” technique from her website

Katia provided us with pre-recorded videos of her signature “Sea Waves” technique and answered our questions over a Zoom call. Jenny did an amazing job of bringing it all together and resolving the inevitable technical issues that required her to hold the speaker jack in the computer so the room full of keen students could hear Katia’s replies to their questions from half a world away.

After our online session with Katia we were set free to experiment with our new learnings in the main hall.

Jacqui provided 4 full days of teaching, her classes were so popular many of them were over-subscribed. She covered a wide range of topics including, how to:

  • felt a fedora style hat using alpaca fibre,
  • make a wet-felted necklace,
  • painting on silk
  • construct and hang 3D wall art

And of course then there was the army of more than 20 volunteer tutors who offered to share their knowledge, a technique or ideas on how to develop your own style in new directions. There really was something for everyone!

A raffle was held to raise seed money for Convergence 2027 and the prizes were drawn on the final day:

Photographer – Pip Sturgeon

The final gala dinner and fashion show was a hoot, with heartfelt closing speeches from Jenny and Christine followed by the very funny “Glitter Sisters” AKA Lynn Evans and Sharon Fergusson, who hosted the felt fashion show with more than 20 stunning creations paraded among the enthralled diners.

L to R: Lynn Evans, Jenny Forrester, Sharon Fergusson and Christine Roxburgh. Photographer – Flo de Ruiter
Just a few of the fabulous felted outfits on display in the fashion parade. Photographer – Margaret Joppa
Bernice Mitchell modelling one of the three outfits she presented during the parade. Photographer – Margaret Joppa

Attending a Felters Convergence has been on my bucket list since I first read about the 2015 event and 10 years later, I’m pleased to say, Felt Connect 2025 massively exceeded my very high expectations and was worth the 10 year wait! Now I am hooked and Adelaide 2027 can’t come around soon enough! 🙂

Thank you so much to everyone who attended, organised and / or volunteered at this event, you are all utterly marvellous!

Ann’s Slipper workshop: from the students perspective

Ann’s Slipper workshop: from the students perspective

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I am very lucky to have a local weaving/spinning and felting guild in the city.  I know many felters are not so lucky.  As you have already heard, it is quite an active Guild, with meetings, socials, and workshops. Today we will have a chat about one of the felting workshops.

Ann will be teaching a few wet felting workshop this fall, including teaching wet felted slippers.  I had signed up quickly after registration opened, for both her slipper and hat workshops this fall. As you probably have notice I tend to be mostly a dry or needle felter, but occasionally I will get my hands damp or almost even wet and try a wet felting workshop.

It will be the first time running this workshop in the studio space, now that the floor looms have moved up stairs. This will allow for a slightly larger class size, we usually have 6 students for this workshop the extra space made it comfortable to try 8 students.

Ann had emailed the students a couple weeks before the workshop, to select their fiber colour. We would be using Corriedale for the slipper and she would have other fibers available to embellish them.

I gathered my wet felting bag from Living felt (Thanks Marie!) added some extra needles (just in case) found the camera, a Mer-boyfreind (in progress) and a large towel ready for the morning.

wet felting Kit from Living felt1.1) the Wet felting kit from Living Felt. I will be using the purple Ball Brause Wet Felting Tool.

6am, October 05, 2025 arrived much more quickly than I had anticipated.  I did a bit of computer work, then Glenn got my stuff into the car. I headed off to let Ann into the building, so she could set up for the class.

I heard the weather report as I was heading in and found out the sweater I had layered on, would not likely be necessary….. (The temp at 3pm, was 29.7c, which beat the 1941 record of 27.2 C.)

On Monday (the guild meeting day) we are expecting a high of 30 C and a humidex of 33c.  Did I forget to mention this is OCTOBER and its usually Much cooler by now. I am not complaining!!!! This gives me a bit more time to get the garden organized for winter.

I did arrive ahead of Ann but not by too much. She quickly got the tables up and started laying out the supplies for the workshop.

Ann cutting plastic with sisors2.1)  Ann prepping plastic for the workshop

bubble wrap, plastic sheet and pool noodle on table waiting for students2.2) bubble wrap, plastic and pool noodle

large storage bin in wagon in the studio2.3) Ann Brought not just the fiber for the slippers, but a wagon load of fiber.

Ann got the bag of 100 gr balls of the requested colours and handed them out.

distributing 100gr balls of wool in 3 photos  2.4) 100 gr balls of Corriedale fiber

She showed us sample of different types of slippers and showed the resist that would make that shape.

3 photos of sliper samples 2.5) slipper samples and patterns

We each selected our slipper shape and then traced our feet. Ann estimated the shrinkage and added it to the resist. We had the slipper with heal, the slipper without heal and a couple ankle high boot slipper shapes too. For high arch feet she had to add a bit of extra space.

Ann tracing foot shapes to create the resist shape 2.6) ankle books resist shape

this hart shape will create 2 slippers without a heal 2.7) heelless slipper resist

this is the shape with little off set wings that will make the slipper with heal2.8) slipper with heal resist.

We cut out our resist, (that’s floor underlay), it works well since we can feel it through the wool.

Next we divided the wool, fist in half (half for one side half for the other). I had to then spit each side in half, since I have two separate slippers, rather than one joined resist shape. For most, each side was divided into 4 equal lengths, since we will be adding 4 thin layers of fiber in alternating direction.

half fiber is devided into 4 balls, sitting on resist. one half of the fiber is still in a ball on the other resist3.1) starting to divide the fiber

Jumping ahead I have added 2 layers and was just starting the 3rd layer on the first side.

half the fiber is devided between the two resists. the same amount will be used on the other side of the resist.3.2) laying out the first side of the resist, last of the 4 layers starting to go down

 

After completing 4 layers over each slipper resist. I gently wobbled the fiber and then moved it off to one side and started what will be the other side.

thin even layers alternating direction there are now 4 shapes which are the top and bottom of both slippers.3.3) 4 layers on each slipper on each side

Once we had both sides with 4 layers of changing direction, it was time for lunch.

I mentioned Ann had brought a bit of fiber to embellish our slippers…. Ann’s wagon is obviously related to the Tardis! Boxes just kept emerging, and fiber appearing out of it! she covered the table with options, Marino top, Throwers waste, shredded hankies, sari waste top, locks and curls, silk blends, trilobal Nylon, her own hand spun yarn, and some mixed bits of odds and ends. We will get back to this distracting pile of clolours shortly.

another student looking through the embellishment fibers spred out over a 6 foot long table3.4) embellishment fibers filling the table

Next, we were getting into the really scary bit. We added water under the resist turned the edges and then added the second layer. The water even dripped on the floor!!!

this is a ankle boot shaped resist, Ann is carfuly tugging the fiber extending byond the resist on top of the resist.4.1) wetting the first side, and carefully wrapping the extra fiber around the resist

my resists sitting on wetted wool 4.2) my slippers start to get wet

plastic over the wool that has been added above the resist. the plastic keeps the fiber from sticking to my hands as i push the watter into the fiber.4.3) using the plastic to help spread the water (so the fiber doesn’t stick to your fingers)

the boot resist, wraping the fibers around the edge of the resist being very carefull not to make stong fold lines4.4) wrapping the second layers edge fibers around the wool rapped resist

Once we had the front and back wrapped around the edges of the resist,  it was time to consider embellishments.

3 photos of embelishment options.5.1) some of the embellishment fibers

Once the embellishing was added and in some cases wrapped to the other side, we wet the new fibers. I had chosen silk and wanted to give it a better opportunity to attach, so added thin whisks of hand blended merino wool over top of the silk.

after adding embelishment fibers more watter was added 5.2) embellishments added and then more water added

Maybe if I move the plastic you will get a peek?

Peekeing under plastic to see silk and wool added to slipper5.3) looking under the plastic at one of the tows of the slippers

Ann has been able to find a collection of the old Tupper ware lids. I will have to keep my eyes out for them too. We used them to gently rub from the edge of the resist towards the center. At first very lightly then adding just a tiny bit of pressure.

2 slippers in progress. tupperware lid used as rubbing tool.6.1) the rubbing with Tupperware lid

By this point the water was making a brake for it or a frontal assault, I’m not sure which. I employed the power of the towel and tried to keep the wetness in check! The towel did not stay dry long!

towl wrapped aruoung buble rap and plastic holding slippers/resists a bit of dampness is visiable on towl6.2) pinch test after rubbing is successful and it’s on to rolling!

I kept loosing track of my counting to 100 then flip and rotate the resists. You can see the slight rippling developing, there is some shrinkage happening.

during brack in rolling, opened plastic to see if there was any sign of shrinkage. only the fantest rippling present 6.3) checking everything is still attached and looking for signs of shrinkage

towl is now heavily saturated with water there is a faint lighened arria in one part of the center of the towl which is still dry.6.4) The water was making a valiant effort to soak me but I dogged as much as I could! The towel, on the other hand has only a small patch that is still dry, the rest is quite soaked

Mer-Stergon in progress turned away from the camera showing extencie gluteal development (he has a nice butt for a fish-person)) 6.5) Even the latest Mer I was working on, did not seem interested in getting wet! (Unrelated dry felting glute shot!)

Since Ann was having the other students stick their feet in the cold wet slippers, I used the original unscaled up foot tracing to check if my shrinkage was getting close.

laying paper foot shape over slipper shape to check asmount of shrinkage7.1) checking with foot size agents the length

this is another student trying on her bootie stile slipper, Ann was checking the fit and is now pulling the bootie off7.2) try it on

Once a slipper was close focused felting and shrinking were done to ether length, width or both.

Ann is rubbing the foot section side to side to reduce the width of the slipper7.3) adjustments

Mine still need more work but its getting closer.

2 slippers still need more shapping but are starting to look like slippers 7.4) still needs work but they now look like slippers, checking amount of shrinkage

I still have more work to do, but I can heat them up again and keep working on getting the heal a bit tighter. You can see I have had quite a bit of shrinkage I will work on them more this week.

But for now I have to head to bed. There is a guild meeting tomorrow as I am writing this, and I will need to leave extra early since there is expanded construction on the queens way today. I will give you an update on the slippers when they fit just a bit better (they are close but the heal is a bit loose, on one more than the other)

Ann was a fabulous teacher, as usual! She is very mellow and we didn’t feel rushed or confused.  In fact this is the second time I have taken the felted slipper workshop (and I stuck to the plan and actually made a set of slippers this time, not boots!  I think I have taken her hat class 5 times so far, each time making a totally different hat. this will be hat class #6. I still have to decide if I want to make a replacement for my stolen hat or make something new.) If you have the opportunity to take a workshop with her I would defiantly suggest it! and I do feel safer  from the evil wetness when I wet felt in a group!!

Have fun and keep felting!!

Woven Fabric

Woven Fabric

Comments 22 comments

My local quilt guild had a male speaker a couple of months ago. I really enjoyed his presentation, his honesty and his work. His name is Mathew Boudreaux, aka Mx Domestic. He and Tara J. Curtis have written a book called Fabric Weaving and Mathew has also created a new weaving tool, Mx Weaver, that works quite well with his weaving process. He has quite a few videos on YouTube as well. He also has an online fabric shop and I really love his fabric choices. I’ve even purchased a few of his traditional quilt kits because I loved the fabric choices. And on Saturdays he has been doing a Facebook live that I enjoy watching.

https://mxdomestic.com/collections/mx-domestic

The book has a large number of projects using a variety of different types of weaves. I thought I would try a tumbling block (aka triaxial) weave. His project suggests cutting it up and making it into coasters. I love the weaving on the cover!

Fabric Weaving book

First thing I had to do was draw a grid. This will be attached to a piece of 24” x 30” foam core board that is at least ½” thick as you will be pinning into it. This is a photo of my second grid drawing. The first I didn’t have the lines extended out to all the edges which made it difficult to line the fabric strips up with. As I progressed with the weave, I found out how important that detail was! One good thing is that I can reuse this grid later.

Paper grid used to lay strips onto

This project required 3 different fabrics, light, medium and dark. I decided I wanted to work with a turquoise pallet.

Once I picked my fabrics, I needed to cut them into 1” wide strips and then use my ½” bias tape maker to make 12 strips out of each color.

3 fabrics used, light, medium and dark value

Photo of my 1/2″ bias tape tool doing it’s job!

1/2" bias tape tool making strips

Photo of all the medium color fabric strips ready to go!

bias strips of medium colored fabric

Lots of prep to do prior to any actual weaving…

Finally I could start laying the strips down on the grid. First the medium color was placed vertically . The drawn grid lines are 1” apart, so 2 strips fit in each section.

This photo shows the first layer going down onto the grid.

1st fabric strips layed on grid

Layer #2 requires using the Mx Weave tool and starting to work diagonally. Here is a photo with the Mx Weave tool.

2nd layer of strips being woven

Second layer progress…

2nd layer of strips after fixing grid

2nd layer complete

2nd layer complete

Now for the 3rd and final weave. I switched to the smaller Mx Weave tool for the third layer and used my Purple Thang to help get the tip through in the proper places.

Purple Thang photo

Purple Thang tool

1st couple of rows of fabric 3…

1st two strips of 3rd fabric

I’m getting excited to see the tumbling block pattern come to life! Hope I’m not boring you with all my progress photos. I found the whole process fascinating!

3rd layer of weaving showing weave error

When I got to this point, I realized a few mistakes that I had made along the way.

One blatant one to my eye was that the strips were not laying in a straight line from edge to edge. You can see in the above photo how the blocks are bigger on the right side. It’s an interesting effect but not what I was looking for in this project. And since my drawn edge lines didn’t extend out far enough past the ends of fabric #2, I couldn’t see what I was doing. And all those pins to deal with! I tried to fix things and finally decided I would start the 3rd layer over again after I redrew the grid to make it bigger. This was a pretty scary move at this point because I had to remove all those pins. Worse case scenario was that I would have to start all over again and I was prepared to do that if necessary.

I was successful in transferring the 2 layers to the new grid. I think it was a good move to do this as I was much more pleased with the new block consistency.

3rd layer strips almost completed

And here it is with all 3 layers woven together.

3rd layer of strips completed

Much more consistency after redoing layer #3. I can live with this version!

I had laid some woven fusible interfacing down before I started adding the strips. Once I removed all the pins, I taped the edges, gave it a good steaming to get the fusible interfacing to adhere a bit and then sewed all around the edges to keep it from coming apart.

Now…onto the coasters. How in the world could I cut this up to make coasters??? Oh my.

But I did. These are almost 6″ x 6″ which is a bit large for a coaster but here they are. All done!

6 coasters made from finished fabric 6" x 6"

I learned a lot from Mathew’s process. I wish I had taken a class from him first, as I’m sure he would have passed on a lot of his success secrets and do’s and don’ts. I will probably try another one or two of his woven projects from his book.  That was fun!

Happy creating!
Tesi Vaara

Registration Now Open for Hanging Felted Spiral Online Class

Registration Now Open for Hanging Felted Spiral Online Class

Comments 5 comments

Helene is teaching another session of her Hanging Felted Spiral online class and you can register now. Registration opens today and class begins on October 18.

This is a four week online course and you don’t have to be present at any certain time. You will have access to videos and Helene’s support throughout the four weeks and will be able to download the PDF’s for future reference.

 

Have you wanted to learn more about sculptural felt? This is a great way to learn about how to layout fiber for more elasticity, how to use a book resist with multiple “leaves” and Helene’s ideas on how to further these ideas into future projects.

Here are a few of Helene’s students own spirals. Aren’t they fantastic out in nature?

Jump into spring and learn to make a spiral with Helene. Online class starts on October 18. Learn more about the class and register here.

 

Helene also has an ongoing class, Wet Felting a Vessel Using a Simple Resist which can be taken at any time.  If you know the basics of wet felting but want to move forward into creating three dimensional objects with a resist, this is the class for you. Click here for more information and to register.

If you are a beginner and want to learn the basics of wet felting, our beginner class is always available and you can sign up here. This course has unlimited access and is a great place to start if you want to know how to wet felt.

Registration for the 3D multi-part resist workshop is now open.

Registration for the 3D multi-part resist workshop is now open.

Comments 10 comments

Hi, I’m Ann McElroy. I have been doing in-person teaching for about 20 years now.  After hearing much demand for a workshop like this from people who do not have access to in-person teachers and much nagging encouragement from my fellow bloggers, I put this class together.  Doing multi-part resist is great fun, and there are so many possibilities for this technique. Registration opens today, and class starts Oct 17.  You can register here, just scroll to the bottom: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/3d-multi-part-resist/

Have you ever wondered about working with more than one resist? Have you tried one resist and found that only one is not enough? Do you want more? I can help! Why have a single resist when you could have a full book of them! This fun course will expand your felting horizons. This step-by-step course will guide you from building the multi-part resist to the finished piece and give you the skills to continue. Why use only one resist when you can use more?

This workshop is $60 Canadian, approx. $45 US, $37 Euro, $32 British Pounds, $66 Aus., $73 NZ.

The workshop will be open for 4 weeks: from October 17 to November 14, 2025.  Here is a link to the material list: 3D supply list.   You will likely already have most or all of this. Registration and contact information are at the bottom of the page. Registration will open on October 1 2025.

This course is designed for Felters who have felted over a simple resist before. An experienced felter may be able to complete this class within a single day; however, the course can easily be extended over multiple days as needed. You can stop at the end of each PDF and continue another day or time. Using a step-by-step guide, you will make a three-dimensional six-part resist. This type of resist is often called a book resist, as it resembles an open book with the pages splayed.

The workshop is accessible for four weeks and has four downloadable instructional PDFs. I will be available to answer any questions for the 4 weeks the class is open. You will also have access to community spaces where you can share progress pictures and connect with the teacher and other students.

Your learning goals

  • Learn how to make a multipart 3D book resist
  • You will learn how to lay out and manage your wool for a three-dimensional resist.
  • How to bring the wool and resist together in an organised and logical way. Including all the fiddly bits.
  • How to felt a multi-part resist, managing all the parts.
  • Learn three different methods of fulling and their advantages and disadvantages.
  • You will have the option to choose from various finishing methods.
  • How to use some everyday items to help with shaping and finishing.
  • Experimenting with different shapes.

By the end of the course, you will have a unique sculpture. Mastering the book resist technique, you will unlock new creative possibilities for complex sculptural felting.

 

This workshop is $60 Canadian, approx. $45 US, $37 Euro, $32 Pounds, $66 Aus., $73 NZ.

You will be billed/invoiced by PayPal, and the vendor name on the bill will be Shepherds’ Spring Farm. Class sizes are limited to 50. A supply list, a Class Website Navigation PDF, and an Adding Photos to the Class Website PDF will be attached to the PayPal invoice for your convenience.

Please remember that the course content is for your own use and should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without obtaining my prior written permission. Please respect the copyright.

The workshop will be open for 4 weeks: from October 17 to November 14, 2025.

Registration is now open. Register here, just scroll to the bottom: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/3d-multi-part-resist/