Category: News

Borris Lace Workshop with Leiko Uchiyama

Borris Lace Felt with Leiko Uchiyama  – Feltwest workshop – October 7 & 8 2017

On the weekend of October 7 and 8, international felt artist and tutor Leiko Uchiyama presented her Borris Lace Felt workshop to 11 enthusiastic members of Feltwest. Leiko is well known in the world of felting for her distinctive Pine Needle Felts, a technique she developed after seeing patterns of fine pine needles on pristine snow in her home town of Sapporo Japan.

For the past 5 years, Leiko has lived near the small village of Borris in Ireland and it was there that she first encountered Borris Lace*. Her workshop ingeniously combined her interpretation of Borris Lace in Felt and her Pine Needle technique. It was clear from the start that students were in for a treat.

Leiko began by explaining the history and principles of Borris Lace and how she came to interpret and translate this in felt. She was well organised and prepared, showing everyone multiple samples while explaining the various possibilities of Borris Lace Felt. She had also managed to bring a wonderful collection of her sumptuous hand-dyed fine merino wool (16 & 18 micron) and merino/silk mix fibres; no mean feat for having travelled and taught classes around Australia for 6 weeks before arriving in Perth.

 

Then the work began! Everyone made specific pre-felts to resemble lace tape and prepared stacks of pine-needle fibres, all the while designing and then laying out larger works. With well over 50% shrinkage from start to finish, rolls of bubble-wrap were involved!

The afternoon of day 1 and part of day 2 was spent on laying out the large works. Meanwhile Leiko imparted lots and lots of tips on her specific techniques and fine felting more broadly. It included handling of fibres, laying out for different effects, laying wool in narrow width areas without getting fluffy edges, making specific cords for textural effects, creating a balanced and intricate design, attention to detail, rolling and finishing, and much much more. Leiko’s dedicated, methodical and gentle approach, and her generosity in sharing her knowledge brought to the fore the value of attending a class in person and working hands-on and face-to-face with a tutor.

Leiko was a delightful and fun tutor who was very clear in her explanations and instructions, and due to her good management, all works were finished by the appointed time! At the end of the class, 11 beautiful wraps and scarves were displayed and Leiko pointed out specific areas of interest in each work as a way of recapping the entire process and the class.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Leiko for a wonderful class, and thanks to all the students who enrolled!

– Martien van Zuilen

For more info on Leiko’s work, see http://leikofelt.com

Leiko Uchiyama’s work is also featured in the Australia magazine Felt (issue #17), with an artist profile and a pine-needle felt project written by Leiko! http://www.artwearpublications.com.au

* Borris Lace is a lace made with lace tape joined by various filling stitches. The name originates from the village of Borris in Co Carlow, where Leiko Uchiyama currently resides. In 1857 Lady Harriet Kavanagh of Borris House visited Corfu and was so impressed by the specimens of old Greek Lace that she bought some pieces and brought them home along with tape laces from Venice and Milan. She felt that they could be copied in Borris by the local women, thus enabling them to add to the small family earnings and aid local employment. The well-known Borris Lace Collection (housed in Borris House) was painstakingly researched and catalogued by Australians Marie Laurie and Annette Meldrim. Their 2010 book The Borris Lace Collection : a Unique Irish Needlelace is still in print today.

Feltwest October Toss N Tell – Surface Design

Sara Quail surface design felt

October 2017 Toss ‘n’ Tell

Demonstration – Surface Textures by Sara Quail 21 October 2017

Sara presented a fantastic and comprehensive demonstration, encompassing a huge variety of ideas & techniques that she has been experimenting with. I can hardly begin to represent it here…The accompanying pictures will help to tell the story.

Looking beyond conventional nuno felting with silk fabrics, Sara showed how other types of fabrics and fibres could be used to achieve surface texture. She had samples with beaded chiffon, sequinned, printed and embroidered synthetic organza, metallic mesh, hessian and recycled knitwear. As long as there are spaces through which the wool fibres can migrate, a range of synthetic yarns and even rug wool, can also be successfully felted. Wool yarns are more easily incorporated, while wool nepps don’t adhere well unless carded with a very small amount of wool fibre.

Because of their ‘holey’ structure, she has felted pieces of Cricula cocoon, skeleton leaves, crocheted items and nylon lace. Lace pieces can be laid out in lines, curves, grids or layered to create frills. Free machine embroidery worked on felt friendly fabric scraps, between 2 layers of water soluble fabric, creates another unusual effect with the stitching remaining on the surface. Generally, these items were laid out on dry wool fibre using gentle felting techniques until items are well attached.

Raising the surface a little more, she demonstrated how medium sized beads and buttons with shanks can be in incorporated without stitching. A suitable needle is threaded with a thin piece of roving and passed through the hole. With about an inch of wool either side, this is then fluffed out and felted in with the wool base.

 

 

To create thin raised lines, nylon strings with their ends protruding can be placed between 2 wool layers, and removed once the piece is very well fulled and completely dry. Inclusions of found items like string, cords and polystyrene beads between wool layers create curvy lines and little lumps under the surface. She showed us how bigger items like shisha mirrors, glass beads, buttons and small objects can also be felted between layers of wool. Near the end of felting, the top layer can be cut to reveal about 2/3 of the encapsulated object.

Sara then showed us how to create a crisp pleated effect by using thin plastic or tin foil on damp silk gauze or paj. Once the folds are created, wool fibre is placed on the fabric side and then carefully felted. The same method was used to produce a sample with multiple felted flaps. Instead of fabric, a prefelt was laid out on thin plastic, pleated, fibre placed on top and then felted. Many of her samples involve a lot more massaging at the beginning of the felting process because rolling too early is inclined to make things shift.

Using resists of narrow plastic strips or polyester ribbons, Sara revealed how a chenille effect could be achieved. The resist material is laid on the wool fibre and then covered with a lightweight fabric (silk gauze, paj or chiffon) and then felted.  The fabric channels created are cut through to produce a chenille look. Varying widths of channels, type of fabric(s) and the amount of wool used will produce different results.

Expanding on the ‘cracked earth’ technique where resist strips are laid between equal layers of wool and then cut, she showed how this principle can be used in other ways. Simple organic designs can be dramatic if contrasting colours are used and the cut edges are manipulated upwards. With additional cutting and manipulation near the end of the felting process, ‘doughnut’ shaped resists can become creative circular designs.

 

 

And lastly, Sara covered 3 distinctly different Shibori style techniques. This involves enclosing objects in a firm prefelt with either stitch or binding. Using very strong thread, more precise results can be achieved with stitching methods but are also more time consuming.

Toss ‘n’ Tell 21 October 2017

 

Sara Quail -asymmetric cape. Sara dyed this wrap a deep vibrant blue in both fibre active dye & acid dye in 2 stages, as it is made of wool, soy and cotton fibres, which respond to different types of dye. It was her first experiment with ‘deconstructed nuno’.

 

Jean McKenzie– made a beautiful white pine needle felted scarf/wrap at Leiko’s workshop. Also 2 felted seahorses as baby toys.

 

 

 

Mother and daughter felt team – A stunning needle felted picture of Tranby House in Maylands. Also displayed a blue, green, yellow pine needle felted scarf made at Leiko’s workshop and the needle felted cat “The Box Kitty”.

 

Stacey – a pine needle felted scarf produced at Leiko’s workshop. She also showed us a Felted Collar made via an online workshop with Fiona Duthie “Felting over the Edge”. (photo not shown).

     Pat – Nuno scarf in pink tones, very flattering.

Judith – a shoulder bag with a face that she made many years ago. It provides her (and others) with a good source of amusement.

 

Toss ‘n’ Tell News 21 October 2017

Chair: Marion Finneron.

Craft House, Menora.

Reminders :

  • The planning meeting is set for 28th October, which is to plan for 2018. The committee will look at suggestions noted in the suggestions book from members, among other things.
  • Saturday 18 November will be the last meeting for the year, and will be our 21st Anniversary party. There will be a celebration lunch at Craft House with members & past members. Members were asked to contact any past members if they are able, many are not on email. Members were asked to bring a plate of food to share at the lunch party. Members were invited to bring a handmade wrapped gift for the ‘Kris Kringle’ if they wish to participate. There will also be the raffle draw from the $2 tickets that members pay each meeting. In order to win the prize, the winner must be present at the party on the day. The prize is a hamper of ‘felting goodies’.
  • Craft House is open for felting in the morning from 9.30, as usual. Lunch will be at 12.00. There will be an informal Toss’n’Tell at lunchtime.
  • Members were asked to return all outstanding library books by November 18. New books have been purchased for the library. Martien has donated a copy of the ‘Felt’ magazine that she edits to the library.
  •  She advised the members that we have a committee of 7 persons, where previously there had been 10. She called for members to approach the committee if they felt able to help with tasks. There is the possibility of forming subcommittees to help with projects etc.
  • The meeting was advised that there are still places available at Martien’s upcoming ‘Jigsaw felt’ workshop.
  • Marion introduced the committee to the members:
    • Karen Wood has taken on the President’s role of Feltwest.
    • Treasurer: Christiane Gray;
    • Secretary: Marion Finneron;
    • Workshop Co-ordinator: Sue Eslick;
    • Online management: Liz Owens;
    • Committee: Sara Quail;
    • Committee: Alison Higgins

Questions raised:

Q: (Christiane) How do non-internet members find out about workshops etc?

A: A letter was mailed out earlier this year with part of the workshop program. It isn’t possible to do this for the whole year, as the workshop program is an evolving thing.

Q: Is it possible to mail hard copy of e-news out to non emailing members?

A: Suggestion from a member that each non-email member could be ‘adopted’ by an emailing member, who would undertake to send information on.

Q: (Jill Jodrell) Could we advertise the 1st Tuesday felting meetings in correspondence also? Perhaps as a separate reminder.

Correspondence:

Advertisement: Member Liz Arnold is holding an exhibition “Reef- A Fine Line” at the Basement Gallery in Subiaco. All members & others are invited to attend.

Reports:

Martien reported that she hosted Leiko’s “Pine needle felting” workshop.                                           for details see workshop on website

Suggestion:

  • Martien advertised the Fibres West calendar for sale.
  • Martien encouraged the group to make more use of the Facebook page to promote Feltwest members work.

 

Feltwest 2017 September Toss ‘n’ Tell

September 2017 Toss ‘n’ Tell

Demonstration – Silk Paper -Nancy Ballesteros

Please see full instructions on Nancy’s website here: http://treetopscolours.com.au/more/make/silk-paper/

Materials & utensils:

Bombyx or tussah silk tops, baking paper, iron, ironing board, starch (either spray or powder & water mixed in spray bottle), water, net, textile medium or acrylic gloss medium/varnish, anti-static spray (if required).

Bombyx silk tops are made from silkworms fed exclusively on mulberry leaves. It contains no tannin and has a higher lustre.  You may need to ‘snap’ your bombyx fibre to unstiffen it. It stiffens in response to being wet in the dyeing process.

Tussah silk tops are made from ‘wild’ silkworms, that are not cultivated and eat a variety of foods. It contains tannin as a result. Either type of silk tops can be used to make silk paper, depending on the effect you require. You could also try throwsters waste or flax fibres.

Different bonding materials have different pluses and minuses. They are available as stores such as Jacksons Drawing Supplies, Oxlades etc. Various media can be watered down to as little as 10% concentration. Some give a cloudier result than others. Atelier brand gave a nice finish without ruining the lustre of the silk. Some brands available are Atelier & Jo Sonja.

  • Textile medium should not be watered down, and needs to be heat set. It gives a nicely flexible result.
  • Ceracin (obtained from silk, the natural bonding agent used by silkworms) is not viable as a bonding agent due to its enormous cost – $1000 per ml!!! (It is in high demand by the cosmetics industry.)
  • PVA works as a bonding agent, but does not cope with humidity as it is a water based product.
  • Starch is available as a pre-mixed spray (eg Fabulon) or the old-fashioned powder type that you mix with water & put into a spray bottle for ease of use. This is still available at IGA. Nancy believes that powder starch rinses out better than pre-mixed spray starch, and has a less offensive smell.

Instructions:

Pull and lay silk out as you would with laying out wool fibre for felting. Some people have problems with static at this stage. If so, you may purchase anti-static spray from the supermarket in the laundry section. Fibres must be laid in at least 2 or 3 directions to provide sufficient strength in the paper.

If using acrylic gloss medium, the silk needs to be wet down with soapy water before applying the medium, otherwise the medium will not penetrate the fibres. It is advisable to lay the fibres down on net to prevent bonding at this stage. Media that don’t need to be heat set can be dried on something like a fly screen, so that it doesn’t bond to the fabric net. Media that need to be heat set can be ironed between 2 sheets of baking paper. Don’t use steam, as you are aiming to dry it out. If the silk paper doesn’t peel easily off the baking paper, you need to iron it more to remove the moisture.

If the layers are not bonding apply more starch and continue ironing. Alternatively, you could try starching between the layers as you lay the fibres down. Re-do if necessary.

If you choose you could lay the fibres down in a random rather than directional pattern for a different effect.

Once you have made silk paper you can cut a very precise shape from it and apply it to your felt. Silk paper for felting needs to be semi see-through, so that it can be grabbed by the wool. If it is too thick the wool fibres won’t grab it. If it is too fine, it will be swallowed up by the wool and disappear into the felt rather than sitting on top. Silk paper can be quilted or embroidered on the surface.

Nancy gave an interesting demonstration that engaged the audience, and prompted many questions. She did stress that there is quite an element of trial and error involved in this process, depending on your purpose and what kind of result you wish to achieve.  Keep experimenting!

 

 Toss ‘n’ Tell

We had a few showings of pieces worked at the recent Leather Workshop run by Bec Fogarty of Hammered Leatherwork. All participates made credit card holder to learn how to use the tools.

 

 

Marion Finneron – Marion has made a felt bag with a magnetic catch, leather strap & base, and a leather pocket on the back.

Christiane Gray – felt and leather bag in red and green tones.  Christine stitched her bag by hand.

 

 

 

 

Alison Gomes – Felt and leather crossbody bag.

Jill Jodrell – produced a number of small items at the Leather Workshop: a card holder, sunglasses case and a belt pocket.

 

Christine also made a felt necklace as thank you gift  for the upcoming workshop.

 

Nancy’s nuno felted shawl “Wandering in Purnululu” felted onto both silk mesh and tissue silk in beautiful ‘outback’ colours. Fibonacci stripes were used in the design of the garment, and some stitching was done post felting for embellishment. The shawl was made for an exhibition called “Dare to Wear” which was stages in Williams and various other towns in Western Australia.

 

 

Teresa Rocchi – produced a piece of felted fabric at Sue Swain’s workshop. Teresa has a dressmaking background, and intends to use the fabric to make a skirt.

 

 

 

 

Katrina Virgona – produced an IPad pouch and a small purse of leather and felt made from a fulled jumper (sorry no picture).  Katrina showed a few pieces from a recent exhibition at Mundaring Arts Centre “The Habits of Horses”. This consisted of a neckpiece and other small pieces using felt and horsehair.

 

Sue Swain’s 3 gorgoeus garments.

Wearable felt wrap made for a friend. (Picture not shown) It consisted of two oval layers that overlap.

A wrap that was too long for requirements. Sue cut some fabric off the length, and used this to make a collar that lies over the top of the garment.

A long cream wrap with arm holes. The garment is in one piece, the top edge flips over to form a collar. Sue found that the upstanding seams were too heavy, so trimmed them off.

 

Jacquie- a returning past member introduced herself to the group.

 

 

Judith Shaw – showed a number of pieces that she produced after drum carding the wool. Leftover scraps of wool in different colours were mixed in an unplanned way. She also added pieces of white flax which combined beautifully with the wool for an interesting effect. One of the items made was a pencil case.

 

 

Our young 11 year old showed a beautifully detailed small needle felted owl & a felted pouch style bag. The pouch was embellished with beading and machine stitching. Well done!

 

Liz Owens’  felted hat with little spring sticking out the top. The hat was tall to start with, but folded down almost like a pleated effect, to become something like the shape of a fez.

Toss ‘n’ Tell News

Chair: Karen Woods.

Craft House, Menora.

Reminders :

  • Leiko Uchiyama’s artist talk coming up on Friday 6 October 2017, 7pm to 8.30pm. Craft House Main Hall.  Light refreshment available.  Those who can please bring a plate.
  • Bookings are now open for Martien van Zuilen’s ‘Jigsaw Weave and Felt’ workshop to be held on November 4-5.

Questions raised:

  • To the membership regarding the membership contact list. Do members wish to have it available electronically or in hard copy?  Members present decided that names and emails were sufficient. It was agreed by the membership that a member may have their details suppressed if they wish it. Some members were happy with an electronic document, others wished to be provided with a hard copy.
  • Feltwest Facebook page and website: Are members happy to have photographs of work displayed on the Facebook page? Are they happy to have names with the work or not? Are they happy to have members photographed ad displayed with their work?Nancy Ballesteros stated that currently the website is used to provide information to members regarding other activities and organisations that our members may be interested in. Concerns were raised regarding privacy, and the possibility of the public copying members ideas/work. It was decided at the meeting to leave it as it is currently.
  • If members wish to have items posted on the Facebook page they can send it to one of the Facebook administrators via a message on “Contact us”. Current administrators are Soosie, Nancy & Sue Eslick.
  • The Christmas Party will be held in November. As it is our 21st birthday year, Sue Eslick had the idea of inviting past members to this special event. Membership endorsed this suggestion. Karen has a list of past members, which would enable this to happen.

Correspondence:

  • Forest Heritage in Dwellingup, enquiring whether Feltwest wishes to make use of their facilities in future. The question was put to the members.   An investigation is required as to what facilities they have.

Suggestion:

  • Publishing a calendar for 2019.

An option of forming a sub-committee to work on this project next year was suggested. In the meantime, a suggestion was put forward to produce a small magnetised fridge calendar for 2018, highlighting dates for Feltwest events. This could be produced for about a $1 each if using a set format. Suggested size to fit a DL envelope, therefore postage cost would be limited to $1 each. Customising is more expensive. A member suggested that it might be worth investigating Vistaprint for this.  Liz Owens to investigate.

  • Requested for a group project for 2018.

Christine mentioned that a group event for 2018.   She has a contact at Wagin Woolarama. It features a fashion parade, and has the possibility to sell members work.  Member feedback was requested about this idea.

  • Be involved in next years Royal Show.

One of our members Teresa is involved with the Royal Show, and would we like to participate next year. This event also involves a fashion parade.

 

Notes by Alison Higgins, photo’s by Liz Owens.

 

 

Review of Leather Workshop

What an inspiring day looking at the possibilities of adding leather to our felt!  We met at Leather Direct in Osborne Park where there was lots of different leathers and tools available.  

Bec from Hammered Leather works showed us the properties of different types of leather and their uses, from very soft kid leather, used for clothing, to sturdy strap leather.

The range of leathers and colours was staggering, and Paul helped people to find the right piece for their project .

Bec provided all of the tools and leather we needed to  make a small card wallet,  learning the basics of cutting, stitching, and adding straps and rivets.  We learned the secrets of how to make stitches even and neat, and how to deal with the ends.

       

 

Then people brought out their felt and Bec helped everyone individually to work out how best to work with the leather to turn their design into a finished project, using leather from her scraps box, or purchased from Leather Direct.  People added a range of leather bases, corners, flaps, straps, gussets…..  Everyone had a different idea, and Bec worked flat out helping everyone with their project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t all get to finish, but everyone left with the holes punched, and the materials they needed to complete their project at Home.  Thanks Bec, for sharing your skills, time, tools and materials, and staying late to make sure we were all able to continue with our projects at home.  You have really whetted our appetite for adding leather to our felt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feltwest 2017 AGM and August Toss and Tell

The Feltwest Annual General Meeting started by welcoming representatives from the Funds for Freedom Project for the presentation of   a cheque for $2,000 – the proceeds from our 50:50 scarf project.  These funds will be used to support women and children escaping domestic violence.

The retiring Committee members were thanked for their huge contributions over the years.  These include Virginia Campbell, Soosie Jobson, Nancy Ballesteros, Sue Harrington, Sue Espie and Christine Wheeler

The following people were elected as the new Committee:

Marion Finneran      Secretary

Chris Gray                 Treasurer

Committee members – Sue Eslick, Sara Quail, Liz Owens, Alison Higgins, Karen Wood.

Liz Odd was awarded a certificate of Life Membership in recognition of her contribution over many years.

The new Rules of Association were endorsed.

Sue Eslick reported feedback from a group meeting to assess a new format to Toss + Tell. –  it is suggested that we expand the monthly demo, into a mini hands-on workshop from 10am to 11.30, this would be followed by a short meeting, then we could have the whole afternoon, from 12.30-4.40 for uninterrupted felting. Proposals also include a new name for Toss+ Tell, a variety of demos or guest speakers,  sellers to be invited by the committee to each monthly meeting on a roster basis – approx. 2 at each meeting. General consensus supported the suggestions presented. The proposed format will be referred to the new Committee for decision and action.

Martien van Zuilen showed the FibresWest Calendar 2018 which had been presented to each participant at the FibresWest Forum. The excess were being sold at $15 each being a charity fundraiser. Martien also donated to our library a copy of a newly published book on needle-felting that she had reviewed in the recent edition of the Felt Magazine.

          

Toss+ Tell Report

 Pat has knitted a fine white shawl onto which she felted beautiful wild flowers – a botanical delight !

 

Liz Odd has made 27 scarves  that she will be taking as gifts on her forthcoming visit to Canadian family. She showed us how she used the same design of silk fabric and produced  very different scarves by nuno felting them with different colour wool.

Marion made a muslin jacket in Jan Manning’s workshop and discussed the various things that she had learned in the process regarding shrinkage, preparation of the prefelt and fit of the garment. The jacket was in an abstract pattern of shades of green and peach/orange on the cream muslin.

 

Judith Walsh   made a muslin jacket in Jan Manning’s workshop and discussed her difficulties with applying prefelts to the muslin fabric. Her jacket design was in broken stripes in shades of blues and purple on the cream muslin, worn here by Jill.

Fern  made a muslin jacket in Jan Manning’s workshop and discussed her sizing ie that when it was properly fulled it was too small. Her jacket, modelled here by Alison,  was in shades of brown and cream.

 

Ann Bonnie made various jackets but used her own fabric patterns. One was felted on muslin with a matching scarf. The others were nuno felted on silk. They all were most attractive and fitted extremely well.

 

Vera showed us her bag that she was wearing. She had converted it from another project that had not been successful.

 

Alison Gomes displayed her latest wall hanging  – a beautiful , balanced mix of geometric colours reminiscent of floor tiles.

We ended the day with a delicious chocolate cake presented to Lyn Lukich on the occasion of her 85th birthday

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Marvellous Muslin Jacket with Jan Manning

Marvellous Muslin Jacket with Jan Manning August 2017

The aim of the workshop was to produce an economical jacket based on the design principles of the ‘Bog coat’. This was a simply constructed garment found on ancient bodies preserved in 4000 year old bogs in Denmark.

No knowledge of pattern making was required for this garment. Each student came prepared with a large rectangular piece of nearly felted nuno felt, using heavier weight muslin as a base. The muslin creates a more textural look than silk and is very warm. Every piece was quite unique depending on the colour and amount of wool coverage, surface embellishments and the weight of the muslin.

Jan illustrated how a few simple cuts could turn this yardage into a functional and versatile jacket. Various samples of jackets and vests were on hand to illustrate a variety of design possibilities with variable sleeve and body lengths. Folding a paper template helped to visualise the concept.  

Although the technique involves only 2 basic cuts, Jan demonstrated a variety of ways to finish off edges, join seams and shape the garment. She shared her knowledge and problem solving experience in how to deal with various issues and adjustments.

Students were keen to explore different things – variety of fabrics, different wool layouts and intriguing surface treatments possibilities.  There were many tips along the way.

Jan has a herd of alpacas and lamas on her property, and she explained in depth about the virtues and variations of alpaca fibre. She could even tell you the name of animal whose wool she had used in her various projects – it doesn’t get more personal than that!

It was a very enjoyable day, where participants learnt the skills to make a custom fitted jacket, share ideas and be inspired to create further masterpieces at home. Thank you Jan for sharing your knowledge and experiences.

Reporter: Sara Quail

5 August 2017

50:50 Scarf festival ends

Well done and thank you to all of you who donated scarves to the 50:50 festival at the Gesha Cafe, and to those who regularly dropped in to check on it and to keep the display looking good.  A special thanks to Soosie Jobson who organised the project but due to surgery, was unable to see the fruits of her labours.  Thanks also to Daniel, Martina and the staff from the Gesha Cafe for letting us use their Cafe, and providing such great support and assistance throughout the month.

We had 32 Feltwest members contribute scarves, and reached our target of 50 scarves.   By the end of the project on 31st July, we had raised $2,000 for the Funds for Freedom project.  There were a few scarves left, and the Funds for Freedom project will be able to use these for future fundraising activities.

Launch of the 50:50 Scarf Project

The launch of the 50:50 Scarf Project on Friday 30th June at Gesha Cafe was very successful. It was lovely to see so many Feltwest members, old and new, and friends there.  We had a delicious cake to celebrate Feltwest’s 21st birthday, and also took the opportunity to celebrate Jen Blair’s 80th birthday.

Bernie Sermon from the Women’s Council for Family and Domestic Violence Services came along and spoke about the Funds for Freedom Project that the proceeds of the scarf project will be donated to.

Scarf sales got off to a roaring start with over 20 scarves being sold on the morning.  More scarves were donated as the month progressed and we reached our target of 50 scarves, making a beautiful display.  By the end of the end of the month, we had raised $2,000.  Well done everyone.

Bagstyle workshop by Sue Eslick, review by Marion Finneran

The first day started with 7 enthusiastic members who were all oblivious to the cold and very wet weather outside. Another member only came for the second day due to injury.

Sue started by explaining the technical construction of various bags on display. All the bags are made on a resist and used variable layers in the process.

Once a design had been chosen, a resist pattern was drawn from which a resist was made. Thereafter the resist pattern was referred to once the actual resist was covered with the wool.

Sue guided the group through the various stages of  laying the wool including the options of applying the surface decoration at the beginning or at the end of this stage.

 

The work was then wet down and rolled until it had reached  the pre-felt stage. Many tips and much advice was shared en route.

Once the felt had reached the stage at which the resist could be removed, then the exciting part of cutting the felt  began. Gradually the bag was stretched, massaged and manipulated into shape until the felt was very firm and the bag was a pleasing symmetrical shape.

 

 

 

 

 

The 2nd day was  devoted to the final fulling, and hardening of the felt, as well as the fitting of  handles, clasps, cords and the final shaping.

It was a very successful workshop.  Each participant was thrilled with their own very individual bag and left having learned many new techniques in the process.

Review of Chris Wheeler’s Beads for Impact: Basics and Bling workshop, by Sue Harrington

   

Despite the beautiful autumn day outside, participants happily spent the day concentrating on precise placement and stitching with colourful beads and sequins, using a range of techniques. Chris provided stunning examples of her own work and some prepared samplers to illustrate the day’s teaching, as well as a range of reference books.

 

A huge range of seed beads, elongated bugle beads, sequins and fancy beads are available at different prices, but all have their uses depending on the overall impact wanted. Chris generally uses ordinary polyester thread, but glove thread is also useful.  Threads can be waxed with beeswax if desired, to improve tension and reduce thread wear.

Beads can be attached using simple running stitch or back-stitch. generally with double thread. Single and double needle couching allow several beads to be laid down, perhaps in non-linear shapes, and then held in place by stitching back and forth across the initial thread line. Whip stitch is perpendicular to the line of travel, resulting in the beads being on an angle. 

Sequins can create a great effect on felt as they don’t sink in and disappear and can be stacked, along with beads to create a sense of height. Possible stitches are backstitch or stab stitch. A selection of sequins and beads can be lined up on the needle and secured to achieve a raised loop.

Chris taught the complicated methods of attaching large sequins or feature beads using the Even-count Peyote  technique, and of creating a rosette of sequins. Once completed, these intricate ‘jewels’ certainly create a very impressive focus point on any piece.

Towards the end of the day Chris discussed, by reference to her sampler, how the stitches taught so far could build up to complex designs.

Important techniques learnt during the workshop include:

 

  • When threading the very fine beading needles, take the needle to the thread, not the other way around. Sounds crazy, but it works!
  • Avoid stitches that are too short as this can lead to the beads sitting up awkwardly.
  • Every few stitches make a securing stitch. This prevents the loss of lots of beads if the work is accidentally snagged.
  • A tidy reverse side to your piece can be achieved by sewing on a backing and binding the edges, or beads can be attached on both sides of a piece, or using a thread the same colour as the fabric will make stitching less obvious on the reverse of the piece.

The scene in the hall was one of contented, quiet concentration and gentle conversation along the tables. Everyone went home happy and full of inspiration for adding spice to future textile projects. Thanks Chris for a wonderful day of learning.