Whenever I have a clear out at home, I find there are some of my possessions that safely remain from year to year, which I never get tired of. These possessions are mainly my crafts stash and craft books. Because, no matter what’s going on in my life, I always come back to crafts!
Today I’m reviewing one of my favourite craft books – ‘Complete Feltmaking’ by Gillian Harris.
In case you were wondering what feltmaking is, it’s an ancient tradition of making a dense fabric (felt) from wool. The process of ‘wet felting’ involves rubbing wool fibers with soap and water to make them cling together and then using heat and friction to turn it into felt. It’s often made from wool fleece that has been cleaned, combed and ready dyed (although you can buy it before it’s been dyed too).
If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make felt, this is a good book that does what it says on the tin. Feltmaking is a great craft for anyone to try and the kids can join in too, especially something like making felt beads or felt balls which can be created relatively quickly.
The ‘Complete Feltmaking’ book is aimed at beginner, intermediate and advanced feltmakers and covers different felting techniques such as wet felting, needle felting and knitted felting. You can work through the book from start to finish learning first of all how to create flat felting projects and then 3d sculptural projects a bit later on. Or you can simply pick and choose which project you’d like to try first as the instructions for all of them are very clear. Flat felting projects include a funky patterned table runner and a cute little rug. And the 3d projects include a beautiful pair of baby booties, a tooth fairy pouch, handbags, a tea cosy and a very striking hat! There are 25 gorgeous (and practical!) felting projects to choose from in this book along with easy to follow instructions and fantastic photos.
I’m not the best feltmaker in the world (by far) but I’m working on getting better! Every time I open this book, the photos inspire me to try another project, in fact, I think I’m going to do a flat felting project again this weekend! Watch this space.
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