B. Felt: Exquisitely Crafted Wool Felt Fashions

Hello all!

I missed last week but I'm glad to be back and able to show you more new work.  My birthday was this past Sunday and my husband and I went out to the beach.  Afterward, we had a wonderful lobster dinner.  As if that weren't enough, today my assistants surprised me with flowers and a cake!

However it was not all good news.  I looked ober two of the shawls that I had made recently and realized they were too short!  I like my shawls to be about 8 ft in length because that way they can drape and wrap around the body.

This small catastrophe was not the end of the world though.  My son Ian and I stretched them by hand and then pinned them to the wall as tightly as possible.  If this happens to you, you may not have access to an 8 ft wall that you're willing to put holes in.  The next best way to do it is to build a simple frame for the shawl, even just two saw horses with blocks of wood attached to pin the shawl on will do.

Despite their short length, the shawls did come out stunning.  Here are some photos to help you get through the hot days of summer:

Hello Felt Aficionados,

Last week, I introduced a new felt jacket that I've been working on.  Well, now the jacket has evolved to become an ensemble that includes a hat, gloves, and, soon, a handbag.  These photos show my beautiful assistant Monika wearing the beautiful ensemble.  I'm trying to get photos of all my assistants wearing my creations. so that I can show you how full  and active my atelier is.

I have been working on a new coat that I am overjoyed to show you.  The coat is from my earth series, and is entitled "Animal Tracks".  The coat is lined on the inside with a leopard skin pattern.  On the outside, the combination of blue, yellow and brown brings to mind the ground of the forest after the rain, with sun reflecting off the tiny puddles of tracks.

Here it is modeled by wonderful assistant Octavia.  Though she is a size 6, the coat looks great on a size 12 as well.

Hello all,

I've got another hat to show you, this one modeled by my assistant Monika.  I'm slowly developing my little studio into a little atelier.




























I'm also starting a new project of creating a small automata called battina.  An automata is a kinetic sculpture, like a jack-in-the-box. I took the idea from a doll manufacturer, and you can look at the original idea at this website.  I've created a small head for the creature and am going to work on creating the wings this week.

Hello Felters!

I've got some new stuff that I've been doing with felt, including refining my flower technique.  These flowers are created similar to how I would create a hat, except that it is concentric rings connected by leaving a small hole in the center of the plastics that I use.

I took some pictures of my new hat and handbag, and I'll be ramping up production of both of these in anticipation for my upcoming craft shows.  Both the handbag, and hat also have a flower attached to them.

It's been a little while since I've written here, but I do have a lot of new items to show.

One of the things that I've focusing on is creating nuno felt Assemblage Scarves.  These scarves start out with a sheet of prefelt and then lay out pieces of silk on top of the prefelt.  Here is an image of the scarves before I'd wet them and rolled them:

Isn't Rachel fetching in my latest nuno felt dress in my series of garments inspired by "The Elements".  The first dress I titled "Earth" and that dress gave me fits.  I thought I had measured correctly, but I did not take into account the shrinkage of the fabric, which was rayon. Plus I let the dress dry without blocking or placing a form inside. I saved the dress, rather successfully I think, by slicing the back up and turning the back into a corset style back. So, I put those lessons learned  into my next dress.

I started with the idea of water and waves gently lapping the shore. I wanted the dress to be fluttery and express the colors of the ocean. I chose silk chiffon, and silk organza in shades of deep ocean blue, sparkling island turquoise, storm gray with touches of white. I designed the dress with a gored skirt, the gore is in the front and back with a dropped waist. I then added v-neck front and v-neck back which means I did not have to deal with buttons, zippers or fastners. Rachel just steps into the dress.


The dress fits Rachel pefectly. I achieved this by using a duct tape dummy to dry the dress on. If you ever have to make something fit perfectly start with a duct tape dummy. I learned how to make a duct tape dummie by following these instructions.

This dress "Water" and the other dress "Earth" are going to be in the 2nd annual Wearable Art Show st the Bead + Fiber Gallery in Boston Ma. I organized this show and it takes place during the SOWA artwalk, May 15 & May 16 at 2pm. If you are in the area please come, and pray for nice weather as the event takes place outdoors.

Happy Felting 

Hello, everyone! I've just returned from is New York City,where I bought new silks for my new line of spring scarves and shawls.  In the next few weeks I'll have some updates on my unique spring felt fashion creations!

I have been a busy felt maker and marketing maven lately.  Recently, I was featured on the Boston Neighborhood Network's program "It's All Abouts Arts" hosted by Glen Williams and Suzanne Schultz.  "It's All About Arts" has been on public television for thirteen years and is a respected source of information about the arts in Boston.  Over the next week I'll post more clips from the video interview.

Today, however, I wanted to highlight something that ended up on the cutting room floor.  My son and I made this video about making a blue circular shawl which I did not use in my video taped interview.  A circular shawl is made from circle pattern, so it has no sleeves and is more like a vest with a wide collar that drapes over your shoulders. It is the perfect lightweight covering for summer and spring, especially in summer, when restaurants will last that air conditioning.

I took the circle pattern from the December issue of Threads Magazine. My inspiration for the patterns of the wool was water. For this project I used beautiful hand panted silk chiffon from Gorgeous Fabrics.  The silk I used was very special because it had just a touch of glitter in it.  In the video, you'll see how I lay out the wool, and how I create the patterns that end up on the finished product.

I hope you enjoyed this and there will soon be other videos that I'll be putting up over the next week.  You can find all of my videos hosted on youtube.  Happy Felting!