BRANCHING OUT

For the last few days, it's been an adventure creating the felt for the Tree of Life wearable art - still not sure what it will become but having fun with the colors and the details; yes I do get lost in the details.  Its best not to rush it, but wet it down, let it dry and wait until the next day to determine what is needed.  At the same time, I want to get to the cutting and sewing so I have to discipline myself to know when to stop!

Branches connecting and leaves added - the tree is on the right.

This is the second piece and I may do another but will have to wait to see how my pattern will fit!  Butterflies, dragonflies, blossoms and lots of silk; even a sequinned and beaded butterfly - anxious to see how that felts up.  I have done it before and the last piece embedded in the wool and made it look like did all the beading.  Ready to felt!!!

TREE OF LIFE

The inspiration for the next sample is this gorgeous piece of printed silk chiffon and since I love and appreciate trees so much, I decided that the theme for this garment will be named after this 'tree of life.'   I felted a small sample and dyed some silks but since this is only the beginning, who knows where it will take me.  I always love to work with fabric where I can use the front or the back after felting and cutting it up.  My preference is to always begin with a monochromatic palette and then add punches of color so, in that vein, I overdyed several pieces of silk that I had in my stash in greens and turquoise.

This little guy decided to be my helper while I was dyeing outside!  He kept an eye on me to make sure I wasn't shirking although he made me take longer because I loved watching him!

Oh, the greens and turquoise blues!  signifying the people of the world coming together 

FELTING INSPIRATION

So excited to have been invited by the Scottish Felting School to teach there in August.  My Butterfly wrap was selected for my two days teaching at the school.  I see lots of silk chiffon dyeing in my future - lots of blues and violets!

KLIMT VEST

The week after the Felting School, I will be teaching what I love doing best.  Creating felt, cutting up, then stitching creatively stitching together again.  As always, inspiration comes from a variety of sources, I just have to begin working and then the magic begins.  I had a piece of clothing from a thrift shop (yes, as a 'textile saver') I'm always scouring for interesting pieces of silk or blank linens to dye.   

My inspiration for this vest came from one of Klimt's most favored paintings, 'The Woman in Gold.'  As I studied it, I became very excited about the background; the detail is amazing and provides so many opportunities for inspiration.  I decided to do swirls, 'eyes' and doodads of all sorts and it was such an enjoyable experience.  If it was going in any way to represent Klimt piece in any way, it needed some gold, so out came my trusty old friend - Pfaff 1475 CD (creative designer).  This machine came out before the popular embroidery machines and can perform all sorts of fun functions from inputting your own text, to stitching out fancy delightful stitches, either stand-alone or in a string.  Gold metallic stitches were added for strategic touches and for the finishing touches, a piece of leather that had been dyed with flowers and it was just the perfect color with a silk covered wool ball button.

The most difficult part was the swirls, created from a rolad of silk and wool, gently rolled to the pre-felt stage before being cut.  That wasn't easy as I learned that the roll was way too thick to cut and made it really difficult to slice thinly enough - everything imaginable was tried from heavy duty rotary cutter to shaving with electric hair razor but by that time my fingers were yelling at me!  However, I didn't panic but waited until the vest was finished before using my sharp little applique scissors to shave off the tops and that worked!