Felt is for Fun!

Hey there crafty curios! 

Just thought I'd let you know that the blog challenge I have set myself has morphed 

slightly. Now instead of blogging once a week it will be at least once a week. I have 

found that I am excited about my craft/cooking, and can't wait to post my blogs 

at the beginning of every week. So now it will be when I finish/am happy with a project. 

Stay tuned, because I have some great ideas on the horizon!

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Felt.
Pretty innocuous really. But possibly the best craft material ever invented. Who did invent felt? I want to give them a medal. According to Wikipedia it was Saint Clement and Saint Christopher because while fleeing from persecution, the men packed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters. At the end of their journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks. Who knew that felt was sweat based?
I was invited over to the lovely Bethwyn's house for a lovely Sunday afternoon of crafting. How lovely! She saw my blog and thought it would be fun to craft together. She mentioned Owl brooches and I got excited at the prospect. Owls are cool, and brooches are apparently my thing at the moment. So we crafted, and out popped some amazing brooches, which I then expanded upon today. My collection if fairly extensive.

Felt Owls

My favourite one at the moment is the grey one in the back row.

You will need:
Felt of any colour
Scrap material of a complimentary colour
Thread 
Needle
Fabric Adhesive - sheets, not tape
Scissors
Brooch backs
Buttons (mismatching works so well!)
Iron
Pillow case/Tea towel (slightly damp)


(Sorry in advance for the number of photos, I found it helped if I could see each step. The photos are from two different owls, so sorry if it gets confusing.)


Step One: Iron on a piece of fabric adhesive to the back side of your patterned material. Make sure you iron it between a damp section of tea towel. 

Step Two: Cut three owl shapes out of your materials. 2 felt, and one patterned material. Make sure one of the felt pieces has a point, this will be folded down to make the beak. The second felt piece is the same size as the first, but rounded off underneath the beak.

Step Three: Take the backing off the fabric adhesive and iron the material on to the piece without a point. 
Step Four: Sew the brooch back onto the felt with the point. Make sure all knots go on the inside.
You should have two pieces of felt, one with brooch back, one with material ironed on. 

Step Five: Blanket stitch around the outside of the material with your thread. There are two types of blanket stitch, this is a flat edge stitch or appliqué stitch. It might be a good idea to watch this. The basic premise is that you anchor the stitch with a knot on the inside, and diagonally stitch, then come back on the outside of the patterned material making a loop to pull the needle through. These photos might help. 

If you can see that your stitch is sticking to the outside edge of the patterned material, and all the stitches into the centre are roughly the same length, you are on the right track. Make sure you keep the tension. You will end up with this. 

Step Six: Place the round felt onto the pointed felt (make sure the brooch piece is on the outside... I learnt this the hard way!), and blanket stitch the two edges together. This will help. Looks harder than it is. Make sure to keep the tension. 

Step Seven: Fold down the beak. I found it looked cute if this was folded almost lopsided. Sew two buttons on for eyes, making sure you sew the beak down when putting the buttons on. 

Voila!

To make a felt bird, the premise is the same, but the shapes are different. See!

Here is some more felt friend goodness from my crafty weekend. 

This was my first one. He's a little bit special needs. 

Beth and her fabulous bookshelves. I want her house. 

Cute!

Concentrating hard. Also check out the amazing Fish light!

 

The pink one looks a little evil. 

Have fun felting!

Next blog will be a comfort food cooking guide. 

E x