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Author: mariees26

Retired Nurse Practitioner. Irish Woman abroad. Devoted granny.
Completion.

Completion.

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I had a viral illness all over the Christmas period, or perhaps, a severe bout of ‘man flu’! I really only began to feel better mid January. Mostly, sneezing, runny nose and, tired all the time with little energy for anything, and that included any productive thinking about my blanket and this post.

I eventually managed to heave myself out of the doldrums, and I began to think about what I needed to complete the stitching design on the blanket top. There are quite a few small areas that are a little threadbare, and some areas that have provided comfort for the odd moth or two as well. So, a plan was needed to cover as many of the holes as I could, while adding to the overall decorative effect at the same time.

I found an old woollen tea cosy on one of my charity shop trips, and this had some areas that were embroidered with a pretty floral design. Some areas had a little moth damage, and the wool embroidery area was really pretty, but was very grubby. I washed the tea cosy by hand in very cool water with a little liquid soap and some washing soda, with very gentle movement in the bowl. Following a little soak it was much brighter – same colour as my blanket! I was unsure how fast the dye of the embroidery wool would be, but it was ok, and only a very little dye run was visible.

I cut out the embroidered areas of the tea cosy, two large, and three smaller, and positioned them in place on the blanket, and moved them about until I was happy with the overall look. They were stitched down with a blanket stitch, and most of the threadbare areas of my blanket were covered.

Then I embroidered some random groupings of flowers in other areas on the blanket using different colours of floss. These were done in a lazy daisy stitch. I added french knots, or a satin stitch to the centre of the flowers. The floss I used is quite old, and it did not always agree with french knot making! Then I added some green stems using fly stitch.

I think the whole effect is quite pretty, and the overall effect of the felt and stitched corners works very well with the embroidery. I think I can call it done now, but I still need to put a backing on it to cover the workings on the reverse.

My photos are awfully large still, I have tried to make them smaller, so apologies.

The Fourth Corner: Winter.

The Fourth Corner: Winter.

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I have chosen to decorate the last corner of my wool blanket with some winter greenery in recognition of the season and Christmas, and I think some holly and mistletoe is an appropriate choice.

Holly and ivy were used as traditional decorations for the home at Christmas, it was a part of my childhood, and we all loved trying to find the nicest and shapeliest sprigs of each for our Mum. I have carried this on in my own home. I don’t remember seeing any mistletoe growing in the area of my childhood home in Ireland, nor in Yorkshire, where I lived for some time, but there is an abundance of it where I now live in Herefordshire. I did try to grow some last year on the crab apple tree in the garden, but no joy from all the seeds (about 50) stuck to the branches. I may try again early next year.

       

The tree on the left is a large maple and you can see the ‘balls’ of mistletoe around the top very easily. The photo on the right is of a large mistletoe ‘ball’ (different tree), the berries are just about visible. Both trees in the local park.

There is a national mistletoe day, and this year it is on 7 December. Each year there is a mistletoe and holly auction in a town/rural area not far from here (Tenbury Wells), the auction dates this year are 26 November. and 3 December. A Mistletoe Festival is held each year – 7 December this year – when the druidic myths and traditions around mistletoe are celebrated.

A certain amount of mistletoe is harvested for this auction, but future harvests needs to be protected too.  Many people will gather some of their local mistletoe, or buy a bunch from a garden centre. It keeps well, and I generally collect some for my home the week before Christmas

My post is due on 9 December, quite close to Christmas, and around the time when I would be out looking for some greenery to help me with my Christmas decorations. So, a timely post!

I have a holly tree in the garden with lots of berries on it this year, so it is very easy to pop outside to collect a sprig. Mistletoe grows practically on every tree here, unfortunately quite high up on the trees and therefore difficult to reach. But occasionally there will be some that is within reach to snip a piece off.

Once again, I have free machine stitched the holly sprig shape onto the wool blanket, along with the some leaf shapes. Not all holly leaves are sharp and prickly, which is lucky when trying to find a nice sprig. I have also free machine stitched the mistletoe sprig shape.

                                                       

I have stitched some pre felted leaves to the blanket to add a little extra dimension. I made these some time ago, and these I have hand stitched using a blanket stitch. I compared which shade of red floss is the closest colour for the berries, and then embroidered these in place.

The colour of mistletoe berries are more like small pearls in colour and shape, quite white/opaque, and difficult to show up on the wool cloth; so I have used a pale golden colour floss to embroider these berries so that they can be seen a little easier than a white colour would be.

The blanket will need a little more work I think. I will add a decorative feature to the centre, probably a little more stitching, and then I will find a soft backing to complete, this will make it more comfortable next to the skin.

 

 

The third corner. Autumn

The third corner. Autumn

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Autumn has arrived. Time for celebrating harvests, and gathering the fruits of the hedgerow. There are many  apples, plums, damsons, bullace,  greengages, and pear trees all laden with fruit, a little dexterity is needed to get a tasty snack, or to collect for pies, crumbles and jams. Many a blackberry has been collected and eaten, or frozen, made into jam, or used to make a tasty liqueur by soaking in vodka, or whiskey along with a little sugar, and left to mature in readiness for adding to a glass or two of bubbly at Christmas. Yum. Not the whiskey obviously! Not forgetting the profusion of hazelnuts, walnuts and glorious conkers, and sweet chestnuts that are such a treat to find.

 

Each year from early August, I go searching for some hop vines that may have escaped from cultivation, and moved into the hedgerow at some point. I am not sure if there is an actual wild hop though. From mid August to early September I am on the lookout for the tell tale leaf shape and colour, and lime green  shade of the hop flower, as the vine clambers over nearby trees and shrubs, and hoping that I can remember the spot that I collected them from the previous year.

 

So, for the third corner of my blanket I have decided to needle felt an impression of a small portion of the hop vine that I collected early September.

I love finding these vines. I use the dried hops along with some lavender to make little pillows to slip inside a larger pillow to encourage a restful sleep. I also hang a hop vine in my kitchen, such a lovely decorative addition, and I change it each year.

 

               

Hop growing is plentiful in Herefordshire where I live, and also in Kent, but alas they are not as widely grown as in years gone by – but I am hoping that I am mistaken in this belief. It is lovely driving along and spotting a field with the hops stretching up the tall poles and wires. I’m not sure where else in the UK they are grown other than already mentioned, but with so many craft beer makers in this country the growing of hops is unlikely to die out any time soon.

I have needle felted my hops and used some yarn to illustrate the vine. A photo shows the size of the vine I am using. I have removed all the leaves – as I usually do – but some are present for size.

 

                 

I have machine stitched over the ‘hops’ to secure, and also added stitching to the vine. The hop flowers are a lovely shade of green, with a touch of yellow when fresh, and gradually the colour fades as the flowers dry.

                 

I have stitched the leaves using my machine too, and I have left them bare, so to speak. I was planning on adding some colour to the leaves, but I think they look better without.

 

More work on my blanket.

More work on my blanket.

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I am making progress with my ‘found’ blanket, and I have decorated another corner of it with some needle felted flowers. Again, I have used some more of the plants from my garden as inspiration.

The flowers I used last time were from spring  – tulips and primulas – and Spring seems such a long time ago now. This is a photo of the first corner I wrote about for that post.

 

The plants that I have chosen for this corner of the blanket are from the summer flowering groups. I have chosen alliums and some ‘red hot pokers’, as they are commonly known – the proper name is kniphofia, but I think red hot pokers sounds so much better! This photo is of some of my alliums, and pokers, but I have cropped the photo too much I think – but I hope that you get the idea.

I love purple and orange in the garden, I think they go together really well as a plant group.

I have needle felted my picture, and then wetted with water and the use of some soap to encourage better adhesion to the corner of the blanket. Some yarn is added to give the impression of stalks. I used some little scraps of orange felt for the pokers.

                               

These orange scraps did not show up very well in the photo, so I have used a little orange acrylic paint to enhance the colour.

 

Now to decide what stitching to add, and hopefully add some definition. I used some french knots in a lighter colour of floss, on the alliums, in an attempt to highlight the little individual tiny flowers, that form each allium. These little individual flowers on the alliums provide food for bees, and make a lovely dried seed head to add interest later on in the season.

                                       

I used a fly stitch on the pokers, and I have couched the yarn ‘stalks’, both done for added security in the event of inquisitive little fingers in the future.

I am pleased with my progress on the blanket, it is really nice to take time to think about plants and seasons when doing something like this, instead of the constant rushing and wishing for the next lot of plants in the garden to show themselves.

I have two more corners to decorate, and I am making plans for that – well thinking about it anyway!

So, this photo shows both corners together, leaving me an impression of spring and summer in my garden.

My aim for the final two corners is to have an autumn and winter feel, perhaps with some seed heads and leaves.

Decorating a small blanket

Decorating a small blanket

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I spied a small woollen blanket in my local charity shop earlier in the year. I think it probably was used as a cot blanket earlier in it’s life. The blanket measures 38 inches x 46 inches, the colour of cream and has a lovely blanket stitch all along the folded edges.

 

No label on the blanket, but it is wool, and there are one or two nibbled areas from one or two moths.

     

 

I have a plan is to turn this old unloved blanket into a usable blanket for the younger grandchildren when they visit – to use in the house, or as a car rug, or to cuddle up with if tired. I will add a soft backing to one side – either a piece of flannel or fleece, and that should prevent the itchy scratchy feel of a woollen blanket that so many of us will be familiar with.

 

I decided to add some colour to each corner, and perhaps along the sides, throughout the rest of this year, and it may be done for Christmas time. I found my bag of scrap felt pieces and made a few layouts until I was happy with one that provided some colour and interest.

             

 

I have stitched these shapes down using my sewing machine. These pieces of felt are left from other projects, and some are prefelt (probably) and are placed with some artistic licence. I used a needle felting tool from Clover (green/yellow) to secure the pieces to the blanket, and I was quite surprised by how well it worked. I also have the fake/copy item (blue).

 

I continued adding to my layout, trying to give an impression of a little piece of my garden.

                 

 

To secure the work thus far, I decided to add some water, soap and some friction to ensure that everything will stay well and truly stuck on.

                   

 

I will continue working on this blanket through the rest of the year, and will show my progress in my posts. I am pleased with it so far, and now I must think of what to do for the next corner. I will also  attempt to cover with some wool or embroidery stitches on the areas where some moths have had a lunch or two. A little needle felting and some embroidery stitches should do the trick.

The garden is looking so nice despite all the rain we have had so far this year. Here is a photo of a bumble bee on one of the alliums, no matter how hard I tried he would not stay in one spot, and my beautiful peony with so many blooms, and keeping fingers crossed that they survive the rain.

 

A New Lampshade.

A New Lampshade.

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I have been searching for a replacement shade for a pendant light for some time, but I was not having any success with finding something that I liked. So I thought, how difficult can it be to recover a lampshade?

Some years ago I tried to make a wet felted bowl, but somehow it all went wrong, and I could not get the bowl to ‘sit’ right. I had a table lamp that needed a shade, and as I was looking at it, and my felt bowl, I had one of those ‘lightbulb’ moments – sorry! I re-wet my ‘bowl’, then cut a hole in the middle and after some tugging and a little more trimming, I managed to stretch it over the lampshade frame. I liked the look of it very much, it fitted very well too, so I hand stitched along the top and the bottom to neaten, and to prevent both edges from becoming undone.

So, now I have another lamp shade frame that I want to make a cover for. I found a ‘how to make a lamp shade’  book in my library, and I borrowed it. I wanted to make some nuno felt to use as the fabric outer. I made 2 pieces of nuno felt using 2 different shades of green mixes of merino. The base fabric is a very fine open weave cotton, that in a previous life was a lightweight curtain.

Making the shade.

This involved a few steps; I read the appropriate sections in my borrowed book several times, and then made sure that I had everything I needed. I planned to make and hand stitch each panel to the frame; the other method is to sew all the panels together using the sewing machine and then stretch it over the frame, and hand stitch the top and bottom to the frame. This method is quicker, but the fabric needs to be cut on the bias to allow the shade to stretch over the frame.

The frame is wrapped in cotton tape and secured with a stitch. Each metal section/strut is wrapped in tape. Not all hand made shades will require each strut to be wrapped, but the top and the bottom will need to be wrapped.

Lining.

I used a white 2 way stretch jersey to make the lining for the shade. I cut 2 pieces and stitched to the inside of frame, folding and gathering as I progressed. Lining is desirable if you do not wish to see all the stitching when viewing the shade from underneath, and it gives a nicely finished look to the shade.

Pattern for a segment.

My shade has 8 segments. I traced around one segment on some paper, cut it out and tested how well it covered a section between the struts.

       

       

Cutting the fabric.

I cut 8 pieces, 4 from each colour, on the straight grain. Sometimes the fabric will need to be cut on the bias, but I did not need to do this. The fabric needs to be held tight between each strut, not quite drum tight, but not loose or floppy either.

       

Stitching each panel.

There is a special stitch used to attach each panel piece to the frame. This is called a ‘streetly stitch’, it is a locking stitch and it firmly secures each fabric panel to each section of the frame. In this instance you can see this stitch on the white lining fabric more clearly than you can on the nuno fabric. This stitching can make for very tender/painful fingertips trying to push the needle and thread through the fabric and the tape, while escaping the pins at the same time.

     

I neatened all the edges with a small sharp scissors, as each panel is completed,  but without cutting any of the stitching. I did not want to restitch any part of the shade.

Attaching trim to cover all the seams.

Trim is attached to each seam and top and bottom of the frame. There is a huge selection and variety (and price) of trim available, and the search can encourage many trips down various rabbit holes. Trim is attached with glue, either hot glue, or fabric glue from a tube. Care and attention to detail while attaching the trim will ensure that the newly covered frame will look really nice.  I soon forgot about my sore finger tips.

I did enjoy making my lampshade, and I hope that I have explained the process I used well enough for you all to understand. This is a view of it in place in the bedroom used by the grandchildren when they stay over.

The book I borrowed from the library is called:

Sewing Lampshades by Joanna Heptinstall; Search Press 2018.

A felt heart shape multi coloured.
Valentine hearts.

Valentine hearts.

Comments 16 comments

Valentine’s Day is almost here, and many a lovesick young man or woman will be in agonies deciding whether to buy, or make, a love token or two for their heart’s desire. Or, will they wonder if all that effort infused with such emotion, will be appreciated or even reciprocated?

No? Yes? Too much drama? Stick with some tasty snacks, yummy chocolates and a lovely bottle of red to enjoy on my own? That will be me then!

Anyway.

I will join in, my grandchildren will have my love with these felt and fabric hearts filled with lavender from my garden, to place with their clothing in their wardrobe or chest of drawers. And as always grandchildren are my heart’s desire these days.

I have used some left over pieces of my flat felt, and some fabric that I have cut into heart shapes.

This is the front and reverse of each heart

A heart shape of red felt with a smaller heart shape on top.

  Another red felt heart with a smaller felt heart on top

 

A felt heart shape multi coloured.               

 

Two fabric hearts, a lovely purple batik. This was a small piece of fabric picked up in a charity shop.

Purple fabric heart shape

The hearts have been stitched these together using hand sewing, and decorated each with another smaller heart shape, mostly for interest.

I have a jar dried lavender left over from last summer, a couple of spoonfuls used to fill the heart shapes, and after filling the shapes, the opening has been securely stitched closed.

 

A jar of dried lavender

A little ribbon attached to the top and secured with a pretty button and these little hearts can be hung on a garment /clothes hanger if wished, or stored in a drawer. Either way the lavender fragrance will hopefully remind them of me.

Red buttons and ribbon 2 red heart shaped buttons, and 2 other red buttons

This is the finished look of my felt and fabric hearts. I think they are pleasing to look at and they smell lovely too!

 

It is pleasing to see that my lavender shrubs are all putting on a fresh show of growth for the new year, and I can look forward to another crop of lavender for drying in the summer. Must remember to leave some for the bees though.

 

Lavender shrub

 

PS.

I seem to have got all my photo sizing mixed up this time, despite all best intentions of Ruth and Helene. I am sorry. I have a new phone too, mine had developed the battery life of a gnat, and had become very annoying.  The new photos on my phone are not behaving on my laptop. Hopefully I will figure it out before my next post – fingers crossed!

Completing my sample book.

Completing my sample book.

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The previous post on the start of my sample folder is here:

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=60081&action=edit&classic-editor

For the pages of my folder, I have used some more pieces of the linen sheet that I had discovered in a charity shop. The pages I have made are double sided, so I have eight pages in total, along with the front and back inside covers.

I stitched some more pieces of fabric, and the fabric elephant shapes to the pages. The fabric pieces are hexagon shapes from a previous project some years ago.

 

 

I have also used 2 fabric placemats, and I stitched these to 2 of my linen pages. These are not really practicable for use as placemats, but they are very decorative items. They had been gifted to me by a family member following their visit to Japan some years ago. So I have more of them for other uses – I wonder if I could use a couple for nuno felt? An experiment for next time perhaps.

 

The linen sheet is really interesting.

There is a line of fine mending on the linen that is not immediately noticeable, but on closer inspection it is more visible.  See below photos. The repair to the linen is lovely and gives further life to this fabric. It can be imagined that it’s life was not part of a ‘throwaway’ culture that is often talked about today. The cloth can still be used as bed linen or to make clothing, and now, many years later it remains useful to me. I think this repair shows how skilled women and girls were at mending and needlework. Fabric may not have been as plentiful or affordable perhaps, world conflicts will have impacted many people, and make do and mend became the norm.

               

 

I have placed some of my flat felt sample pieces in my folder.

                 

 

               

The pages are attached along the centre of the folder using a few stitches with embroidery floss and tied to secure.

I am really pleased that I have a place to keep these little pieces, and that I will know where they are in future rather than rummaging around in various drawers/boxes. I may add more pages in due course.

Fabric folder.

Fabric folder.

Comments 17 comments

I needed something to keep my various sample pieces in one place, and that I would know without much head scratching or searching around for any particular piece of work. Of course, I would need to not misplace this folder too!

I had a fabric tote bag that had become a little frayed at the edges of the straps; the pieces of tweed used to make the bag were fine, with no damage or fraying. The bag just needed a wash.

The bag had been a Christmas present to me from my daughter several years ago, and I used it daily. I am not a ‘bag’ person, that is, having a bag for every and any social occasion, or day of the week for that matter. This bag was made at Garvald Textiles, this is a textile studio offering creative opportunities for adults with various learning disabilities, and the studio sells many of the items made by the artists there. My daughter worked for this registered charity in Edinburgh when she lived there some years ago, and much of her present buying that year was made from this source. Leonor may be aware of them, I think she lives in Edinburgh? Photo of the label attached, and remaining leftover bag pieces.

I have made another bag for myself from scrap pieces of tweed fabric bought when I visited Harris in the Western Isles.

 

To make the folder, I cut the body of the bag into smaller pieces and the stitched them onto a shaped piece of spare calico. I was hoping that I would have enough squares, but I did use another spare piece of tweed to complement the colours. I used my sewing machine to zig zag each piece together onto the calico. The size I was aiming for was an open A4 folder.

 

For the inside I choose to use up many small pieces of fabric, and to quilt them on to another piece of calico using a ‘crazy’ quilting theme, and also using hand stitching/embroidery. I embellished some pieces with embroidery, a piece of lace, a crinoline lady, and a couple of heart shaped pieces of fabric. I had 2 vintage hankies, and these I folded into ‘butterfly’ shapes and stitched them down

Both the inside and outside were completed separately, and then stitched together, inside out, before turning the right way out and securing the opening. I did think of adding some bias binding to the outside edge, but in the end I just stitched all around the edge with a blanket stitch.

I added a few felted leaves to the front of the folder, I had made these ?last year, and I think they complete the folder front very nicely. I added 2 pieces of ribbon to use for closure, but I will review this in time for my next post, and I will add some ‘pages’ to my folder to attach my work to.

I am very happy with this piece. I have reused some items, and other pieces I used were already in my fabric scrap box.

 

A new life for a coat.

A new life for a coat.

Comments 24 comments

Another clothing post from me this time.

I found this coat in a charity shop. It is a long/mid calf length coat from a UK/British designer, the label has ‘Out of Exile’ on the tag inside the coat. I was not aware of this design label, but on checking with Mr Google, this brand does make desirable items of clothing and, are expensive to buy new. I paid £5. The coat had a good weight, and is probably a viscose mix fabric. Please excuse this photo, it is the only photo showing the coat length that I managed to keep on my phone. I probably need lessons in photographing black fabric!

This coat is destined for No 1 grand daughter – she loves dark/black clothes and loves a ‘Goth’ image. I showed the coat to my daughter and she liked it too, and agreed that grand daughter would love it.

When I inspected the coat, I could see very little damage. There was a little tear at the back, and the buttons were a little loose. The damage looked to be easily fixable. No 1 grand daughter loves a hood, so I did have to think about how to make and attach one, I do have a large hood on my raincoat, so I made a pattern from that.

                             

 

To repair the tear at the back, I used a piece of ‘grunge’ red cotton fabric. I cut a diamond shape and stitched that to the coat using a blanket stitch also in red embroidery floss. The coat is unlined, so I used a little black interfacing at the back of the tear. I cut two more diamond shapes of the red fabric and attached one to each pocket flap using a blanket stitch. I loved the effect of the three patches on the coat.

 

The coat has beautiful black shiny oval shaped buttons, and all were intact – no marks or scratches seen. I restitched the buttons using the red embroidery floss, and then restitched the button holes using the same thread. I added some black stabiliser to the rear of the buttons for strength. There was a little weakness there, but no tears were visible.

         

Fabric for the hood was very troublesome to find. Who knew that there could be so many shades of black? Anyway, I did find some that I was happy with – a dress from the charity shop, that had a lace overlay. I used the lace to make a outer layer of the hood, same pattern as the hood. I am so very happy with the coat and it’s new look, even though the photos don’t do it justice. I managed to salvage enough lace to attach a little frill to the cuffs as a finishing touch.

                 

 

I am sorry that some of my photos are not of better quality, the model was less than enthusiastic on the day, and occasionally she is just not keen on modelling clothes for her Mum.

I do love mending clothing, and trying to fix a problem area on an item of treasured clothing that has been well made, rather than consigning it to the waste bin. Thank you for reading.