Felting Fun

I have been playing around with felting lately.  I have started to make some felted ornaments.  I use open cookie cutters to get the shape and fill them with roving and needle felt until it is just the right thickness. I mix in Angelina fibers and sometimes a bit of silk roving or silk waste fibers too.   I need to add some stitching and a ribbon hanger to these.     

We explored felting in my art quilting group this week and I got to play around with a felting machine.   This piece has a thin piece of dyed silk for the background, wool roving, silk sari ribbon made from the waste of a sari factory, dyed batting, and some silk roving.  It is very quick and easy to get a unique piece of felted art using a felting machine. 

 I am also working on a new piece of felted art.  This time I making an angel.  I have needle felted the piece.  Next I will wet felt to get the fibers to felt much better.  Then I will add some more needle felting and some stitching.  I'll share more pictures when she is further along. 

 I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season.  I'm looking forward to relaxing and spending a lot of time with family and friends the next couple of weeks. 

Janelle

Bonjour

"Bonjour" is an art quilt made from a mix of reclaimed and new textiles.  I used worn garments, old linens and curtains, color catcher sheets, vintage lace and doilies, along with new fabrics and silk sari ribbon that is created from reclaimed silk waste. I love taking textiles that would be thrown away and instead giving them a new life as an art quilt.  This piece is 8" x 12 1/2".  I is for sale for $103.00. Find it here. 

I cut all my fabrics and trims out and then stitch them down layer by layer on the foundation fabric and batting.  I add the backing and quilt it by adding free-motion stitched designs. I stitched flowers and hearts on this quilt.  I used new fabrics with a Paris theme to add interest to the quilt.  After the stitching was done I used a faced binding to finish the edges.  I added embellishments to the front and a thread chain for hanging to the back.  
I also created kits from my stash with similar fabrics, trims, and embellishments.  The kits also include the foundation fabric, backing, and batting along with all the step by step instructions. They are $25.00 and can be found here.

I hope that this gives you some ideas for using reclaimed fabrics and if you want to give this a try without finding all the supplies you can use the kit I created just for you.  Have a wonderful week,Janelle