Wet felting in the garden!

Today i decided to have another go at wet felting. My idea was to make a sunflower wall hanging. All seemed to be going well until i realised the colours i thought would be great for the background were not working once it was almost felt.
So Ive decided I'll turn it into a bag.


I forgot to take a photo of the first part, laying out the wool tops and building up in layers before covering with cloth.


Here's the part where the wool is covered, wet with hot water and washing liquid applied. There's lots of squashing down and then loads of rubbing and shaping when it starts to distort. Takes ages but its great fun. Even better in the garden because you can splash loads.
The felt also shrinks a lot at this stage. I've heard by about 2o-30 percent though all the stages.



Every few mins the material has to be pulled back and repositioned to prevent the felt adhering to the cloth. Shrinks a bit more at this stage.
Looks a right mess at this stage and you think the magic will never happen.




Wrapped up and rolled in a tube. Then rolled about 100 times. Then opened, wrapped and rolled from the other side and another 100 roles. I did 400 in total. Shrinks again at this stage.




After this threes lots shaping, rinsing in hot and then cold, hot and cold and on and on in that kind of pattern. Then lots of chucking hard at floors about 30 or 40 time, before its finally ready. It once again shrinks a little more through the final stages.
It's meant to soak in white vinegar but i don't have any... think it will be OK.
Then its shaped and pulled a bit more and left to dry.

Here's the felt finished.




Kind of a bag shape... lord knows how I'll sew it together! I think I'll make some sides tomorrow and a strap. Plus i think I'll line the bag.





Close up!


I'll also be hand sewing patters onto the bag and adding other fibres for interest. Think I'll make buttons and bobbles for it too, lol



The sunflower in parts. I'm going to hand sew patterns on the petals and leaves, and add extra fibres. Tomorrow i'll felt a pot and the stalk and hand sew onto these too.
Annoyed because i'd love to make the background felt but will have to wait until i can buy more wool at the weekend.
Really happy with how these turned out and glad i combined several colours into the petals and leaves. I think with the right stitching and extra fibre they're going to be just how i imagined.
I also need to roll loads upon loads of tiny little balls in various colours for the middle.


I love wet felting to bits, it's absolutely the best craft Ive found! It's not one of the most expensive crafts (although time consuming), holds no boundaries and I've also discovered no set rules in its creation. Almost anything can be made with felt!
I've not followed all the rules i've been watching on you tube and also those i've read, and have adapted and changed slightly with what i have to hand. It's been fun finding my own way too!
I'm going to look for a sewing class locally. I'm no good at sewing and would like to be able to work on what i make to bring them a little more to life. I'm doubtful I'll find a class but its worth a try.


Promise I'll be back to miniatures soon. Think i just needed a break from them.