New Scarf and experiments with cotton scrim

I've made a new nuno scarf and I wanted to try dyeing and using different fabrics. Mainly they were silks - raw silk, silk chiffon and more silky stuff I don't know the name. I dyed chiffon first, the others were already of the colours I wanted.

So this is the scarf.

It's rather small so it needed a button or brooch to keep ends together. I didn't want to make a large brooch or make a button hole so I've just made a small brooch of this lovely ceramic button!

As for a cotton scrim it was not that good. You can see than the dye doesn't work on it, after felting it returned to original off white colour.I need to think more about it...

A Rose

I call this method "A ribbon". The simple way of making these flowers is to felt a very fine and delicate strip (or ribbon), then fold it and form a rose, very much the same way as fabric flowers.

This is with what we start with - three very thin layers of fine wool (pink first and cream on the top):



These are the next stages of felting:



When it's dry and ironed I fold it and get the flower, like this:



Or these:

Multilayer Flower

The next one is what I called "Multilayers". To make something like this:



I use a few layers of resists with a hole in the centre so that all layers are felted together eventually. Starting to lay the first layer of wool:



Then cover it with the resist and keep going until you are happy with the number of layers (or just tired!).



All layers are felted as a one piece and become connected in the centre. Remove resists, form the petals if you wish and now you've got such a flower!



These are made the same way:

5 ways of making felted flowers

I am sure that there are more then 5 ways of making flowers, but this is my classification (kind of!). This is NOT a tutorial! Today I will write about the simplest one, I call it "Circle".



Usually this is a first try to many new felters and very straightforward. The wool is placed in circle evenly (as you can manage!):



After usual routine (soapy water and rubbing) you get something like this:



Use a scissors to form the petals and start fulling:



And eventually you will get finished flower. I tried to make a courgette flower using a new (for me) wool. I am quite happy with the result, especially with the stem attached!