Machine Embroidery and Felting

For the past few days I have been making felt by hand from the wool fibres I received in the post from Wingham Wools. It took about 4 attempts to actually perfect the making of the felt as each time I either did not rub the fibres together enough so they did not bond, add enough water, add enough washing up liquid or layer the fibres thick enough.

To create the handmade felt you have to:
1. Lay out a long piece of cling film
2. Layer fibres vertically
3. Layer fibres horizonally
4. Layer fibres vertically again
5. Spray the fibres with warm water and sprinkle some washing up liquid over them
6. Wrap the remainder of the cling film over the wet fibres and rub continuously with fingers. Also use a rolling pin to flatten the fibres.
7. Rinse out in a bowl of very cold water
8. Put inside a pillow case and tie a knot in the pillow case
9. Put on a cycle in the tumble dryer

Notes:
*You can also use bubble wrap instead of clingfilm.
*When laying out the fibres you can choose more than just one colour, you could layer several colours.
*Felt shrinks dramatically after being in tumble dryer.

I really like how the felt samples have turned out, some are thicker than others, in some the fibres are meshed together better etc but I like the diversity and different textures created.

I have been using my mums 30 year old Bernina to start my free machine embroidery. It is very clunky and slow in comparison to my Bernina Artista 615 which is AMAZING! I have pinned the felt samples onto the cloak and started to embroider onto them to not only secure them in place but to also create really interesting swirly patterns using different type and colours of thread. So far so good... just need to keep up momentum and carry on with the embroidery and creation of different fabric textures and techniques.

I am very pleased with how the samples have worked; this kind of embroidery and textile technique work, i feel, is my forte. Not only do I enjoy it but it is something I am good at due to being innovative and imaginative.