Dr. Who's New Scarf

Dr. Who's New Scarf (detail)
The Heathlands Project, 2016

Over the past few years I've been building up the Textiles department at The Heathlands Project and it's now a popular and busy section. The members have really developed their skills and ideas and have been creating some very beautiful and inspiring work. Our timetables change every few months (with the members choosing which sections they want to work in) so my groups change and whilst some members always like to pick this section others like to try it for a while and then have a change. When the groups changed last year my Thursday Morning Textiles group decided they wanted to make work together.

Working together on large pieces of paper to create designs

Working together on large pieces of paper to create designs

Design ideas and notes

For their first project they decided that they wanted to use felt and we had a varied range of inspirations; space, flowers and rainbows. We began by covering the table with paper and everyone started to draw their ideas and designs onto this paper. This gave us a starting point for our felt piece which was made over the course of several weeks.

Laying out the base

Laying out the base

Starting to add the background

We began with a base of natural white fleece (because it's the cheapest!) and then built up the background with dark colours of merino fibres; black, dark greens and blues and purple. We worked in layers to make a strong fabric and it was good to see the more experienced members helping out those who were new to felt making.

Making the background

Making the background

On top of our base felt we used bright colours of merino and a bit of silk to create designs based on our original drawings. At this point the design of the piece really started to come together and we began to get an idea of how the final piece would look. Then the hard work started; rolling out the felt. As we were working on a big piece but there were quite a few of us we worked in teams to roll the felt until all the fibres were felted and holding together. Once again I was impressed at how well the group worked together, encouraging each other and cheering each other on.

Building up the design

Building up the design

Building up the design

Once the piece was fully felted and rinsed out we wanted to give it a title, as the piece was long and thin and definitely had a spacey feel we decide to call it Dr. Who's new scarf. The group worked so well together on this project from start to finish. I encouraged the members who'd done felt-making with me before to lead on a lot of the sessions and it was great seeing them take responsibility and explain how to do things. The group enjoyed the process so much they decided to carry on working as a group and create a winter themed hanging, more on that at another time.

The finished piece

Dr. Who's New Scarf (detail)
The Heathlands Project, 2016

Dr. Who's New Scarf (detail)
The Heathlands Project, 2016

Cosy Cowls and Snuggly Scarves

Purple ruffles

Even the most optimistic folks are admitting that it is definitely Autumn and we are not going to get an Indian Summer. Personally, I'm quite happy about this as it means its time for hats, scarves and gloves to come out again. As well as revisiting some old favourites I have been in a flurry of wool and creativity recently conjuring up assorted neck warming devices for the coming gifting season.

Chunky knitted cowl

Buttons!

Detail

The cowl above is for my friends birthday; this may be the first time in our friendship that she has actually received her present even vaguely close to her birthday. Normally, despite my best intentions it ends up being weeks (months) late. It's made from a snuggly chunky wool/acrylic blend with bright buttons for extra funkiness.

Detail of ruffle scarf

Detail

The purple scarf is for me! It's a scarf yarn called Arabesque and it's a bit bizarre to knit with but pretty quick to grow once you get into the swing of things. It's a nice easy way to make a ruffly scarf without doing anything complicated!

The following pictures are Christmas gifts so I'm putting up no details, just a couple of teaser shots!

Knitted cowl

Crochet cowl

Pom-Pom-a-licious Scarf

New season, new scarf!

I sorted out my fabric stash last week as it was in serious danger of taking over not only the spare room but the entire house. Whilst sorting I came across a long piece of purple embroidered crinkle cotton. I was puzzled by this discovery, why would I have cut a long strip of fabric? I then remembered that I'd used it previously as a cravat type thing when I was the Mad Hatter. So, I wrapped it around my neck as I was running out of space to create new piles of fabric when it struck me that it would make an excellent autumn scarf. I had a rummage through my trims box and found some pom-pom trim and an idea began to form. I didn't have enough pom-pom trim so I put it on my shopping list. Anyway, today I went to get said trim, there was no purple but they did have shocking pink and I decided that this would work very nicely so I purchased 5m and headed home to commence makeage.

In progress

I'm very pleased with the outcome, the colours work well together to create a bright fun accessory and it's the perfect weight for this time of year. There's a definite chill in the air which I love as it means it's getting close to hat, scarf and gloves season. If you would like to make a similar scarf, the instructions are up on Burdastyle (http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/pom-pom-a-licious)

Detail

Well wrapped

More draped