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Move Over Beads... Here's my Other Love! |
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Written by Dara Spiotto
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Monday, 06 August 2007 |
 Do you scrap book? Do you sew? Quilt? How about paint? Most of the beaders I meet have other hobbies lurking in the midst that cut into their bead time. Many of them are bead friendly, such as beads and buttons and quilting that go hand in hand. Well, I have hardly enough time for my beads, forget about adding in a whole repertoire of other stuff! Ok, I admit I pretend to sew. I do small projects on a beautiful sewing machine that my husband bought me a couple of Christmas’ ago, but recently I had to take it to where we bought it because I couldn’t get the fabric to feed. It turned out that I had the stitch spacing on 0. Duh. Vincent had been turning dials and pushing buttons and I didn’t think much of it, but when I went back to finish sewing, voila! Broken. So anyway, for the longest time the only things that could tempt me away from beading were gardening and cooking, which I love.
Then I was at a boutique that had small hand made items from different artisans from all over the world. I found a small pouch that was made from felt. It made me think of Gayle Crosman Moore who is an amazing felter, creating flowers, vines and leaves in felt, and then accentuating them with beads. I looked at this pouch and began to brainstorm. I left the store in a fog, and called my friend Kandra to buy some of her hand dyed 100% wool yarn. I was going to do this.
 After a lot of experimenting, I came up with a winner. And now I’m going to share it with you. Personally, I love little bags. I love to make them and then put a treasure in one and hang it on someone’s doorknob and then leave before they answer the doorbell. I love to use them as a hand bag or as a container to put a gift in. Little bags are the best. Big bags are better! Big bags allow you to carry your crap around in style!
Here’s how I do it. I begin with my crochet hook. Now, if you don’t know how to crochet, then do a search on the web under “how to crochet” and you’ll have tons of help. If you knit, then you can do it that way, but it will take you a lot longer. I think crocheting is the best. I use a size G hook and 4 ply yarn. The easiest way to make a bag, is to make a big long rectangle. I like to make about 30-40 chains wide, and as long as you want. Then fold it in half and use a big eye needle and a piece of yarn to sew up the sides. Or you can crochet the sides shut. Another style is the lunch sack. You make a rectangle for the front, one for the back, and then a long, thin scarf shape for the gusset. Then you sew or crochet the pieces together. I like to do crocheted strips for the handles. Anyway, you can really make anything out of wool yarn and it will felt. Flowers, animals, slippers, sweaters, hats, gloves, whatever you make from 100% wool will felt. Many of us learn this the hard way when Aunt Camille gives us a gorgeous wool sweater for our birthday, and then we wash it once and shrink it. FELT! That’s accidental felting. Now the sweater fits your two year old niece. Oops. Remember this: you make your project 100% complete, and then when you pull it out of the wash after its felted, its done. I mean, you can do some parts separate of you wish, like separate handles, and then sew them on afterwards. But you don’t have to. I like to make a little bag with a pocket on the outside (or inside!) and then felt it. When I pull it out of the wash its completely done.
Just for the record, any natural hair fiber will felt. Wool, angora, alpaca, mohair, and more will felt nicely, wool being the best. You know that guy at the record store that has waist long dreadlocks? Felted hair. No kidding. I have friends that have saved their animal hair from the grooming brush for a year, then they took it to a spinner and had it spun into yarn. They made a small bag, and then felted it. I have a big orange fat cat, Roxy, and I’m tempted to save his fur from the brush. Imagine an orange felted bag! HA!
 Let me explain what you do to felt, then I’ll explain what’s happening to your bag as it felts.
Place your one item into a laundry zippered bag and zip it shut so that its secure. Felt only one item at a time.
Turn your washing machine to the smallest setting, and fill with the HOTTEST water.
Add 1/4 cup of cheap detergent, such as Gain, All or Surf. Don’t use Tide or higher priced stuff. Trust me here.
Put in one pair of jeans or one pair of tennis shoes. DO NOT use anything other than these, or the fibers from those other things will incorporate into your felted project. I learned this the hard way!
Add in your project inside the laundry bag and close the lid.
Let the machine agitate for 10 minutes.
Look at your project. (Be careful not to burn yourself on the water!) Is it felted enough?
If not, put it back in for another 10 minutes. I usually let it agitate for about 30 minutes.
When you’re happy with the amount of felting done, let the cycle finish. It will do a cool rinse to get rid of all the soap, and then spin the water out.
Remove your project. Beware of fuzzies….they’ll be in the washer as well as in the laundry bag. Fuzzies happen when felting. Can’t help that. Take out your project and smooth all the fuzzies off. Turn it wrong side out and get those fuzzies, too.
Dry out your project by shaping it with your hands or another form, such as a plastic box or tub. However it dries is how its going to stay. Never put it in the dryer, or it will potentially shrink into a teensy thing or just plain turn into a mess. You may need to de-fuzz it again when its dry.
You did it!! Ok, now let me explain what happened to your project. Natural hair is full of overlapping scales. When a natural hair fiber is in hot water the scales open up. This makes the fiber fragile. When your project went into the hot water wash, the scales opened, then the agitation began and the fibers started getting squashed around against each other, and they start to get matted. The hot water makes the natural fiber shrink, so the scales are grabbing each other and shrinking, and what happens over time is that you end up with a felt fabric instead of strands of yarn. So in essence, you can cut this felt fabric and it won’t fall apart. I like to make small rectangles or squares of a color, and then when its felted and dry I like to cut it into shapes like stars and spirals and then use them to adorn bags or wall hangings.
 Bags are my favorite thing to make, but I like other stuff, too. Wall hangings are fun, like my flower one. I did the petals separately and then sewed them on one at a time. The center is fabric and it has bead adornment. I’m still working on it. I want to do a bead border around the outside and then figure out a clever way to hang it. I’ll be entering it in a bead challenge I’m doing right now that starts in July and ends in October called My Beaded Garden. Its sponsored through a local California bead store, and if you want to be part of it let me know. I love to make felted pillows, too. You just crochet two big squares, and then sew them together. Stuff it with polyester fiber-fill pretty firmly. When you felt it, it comes out as a firm little pillow! You can embellish the pillow afterwards with fringed edges or surface embellishment. I’ve made felted holiday stockings, ornaments, trivits, animals, baskets and more.
You can embellish your felted items by incorporating another decorative fiber, such as eyelash yarn. For instance, make a little bag, but when you crochet the last 1 inch of the top of the bag, crochet with your wool strand plus a strand of eyelash yarn. The wool will felt, but the eyelash won’t. So you end up with a furry top on your bag! I make bags with pockets and flaps. I like to use bamboo handles or create funky braided ropes of wool, then felt them to use as a strap. I’ve done beaded straps or fringe coming off the bottom of the bag. I adorn them with buttons or vintage pins or beads. The possibilities are endless! I’ve tried needle felting by hand using a special needle made specifically for felting, where you just keep jabbing at the fibers until they turn into wool. This works well if you’re doing details onto existing bags, too, such as a line for a flower stem.
There are many good felting websites and books out to help you in your quest to learn more. Or you can ask me and I’ll do my best to help you. Great, you’re thinking. One more thing to add to my list of interests! I know what you mean. That’s why I try to stick to only beads and felting. Someday something may come along that will take the place of my beads or felt, but I’ll tell you… it will have to be over the top to tempt me! |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 07 August 2007 )
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