Felting
I love the look of felt flowers but I didn’t want to go out and buy felt to make them. I wanted to use recycled sweaters and felt them myself!
So, I went to the thrift store and found 3, 100% wool sweaters. They were $4.99 each, which, incidentally is the same amount JoAnn’s charges for a yard of felt.
First I cut the seams out of the sweaters and removed the ribbing:
Next I threw all of the pieces in the washer and washed them with my usual amount of detergent on hot. I was less than thrilled with the results, so I did a little research and found that I needed friction to create the felting effect I was looking for. So, I added some towels, re-washed and that was perfect. I then dried the whole mess on hot, too.
Here’s my little pile o’ felt:
And the individual pieces:
(I need to clean off my cutting table!)
It is currently 0 degrees outside, so a wool hat with a pretty little flower seemed just the right thing to make. I used an existing hat I had and traced around it on the felt pieces and then surged them together. Then I used one of the ribbed waistbands to use as the cuff of the hat, and then added the flower.
Here’s Lily modeling, with glee…I might add. I’ll never get the hat back:
(Blurry because I was trying to get her without flash and she just doesn’t EVER hold still. )
And then I made this little pin:
Not the best photo, but it sure has been fun making some new things!
