February's Frolic with Felt.

Some examples of lattice work Gail Cooke brought along to show us, which were very inspiring! This was a great morning packed with instruction and handy tips, plus terrific fun as Lesley Blacklock will now tell you.
The session was taken By Gail Cooke and she inspired and instructed us on how to create lattice work with felt to make a sample of a scarf. We discovered that natural wool is good to use to learn the technique as dyes can change the  characteristic of the wool making it harder to work with.
                                                                            

 We started by marking a template with a permanent marker on our bubble wrap to aid us laying out the wool design. Our wool tops were then split into three lenghts, two were set  aside and the first lot was then split into three lengths. The wool was teased out to lengthen it and we laid three horizontal lines on the bubble wrap, the second of the three pieces was split into three and laid vertically making sure the squares were equal sizes.

                                                                          
The third piece of wool was split and used to finish the lattice design. Some people laid silk or other colours onto the lay, for added interest. The wool was wetted and a piece of polythene was placed over the lay and it was carefully felted in only one direction to ensure the fibres did not move.
 We waited with eager anticipation to see our end results and were all very pleased and cant wait to make a full length scarf we can wear!!
Thank you Gail it was a very enjoyable morning.
Lesley Blackstock                                                   

 Gail modelling one of her own designs a lovely lattice scarf suitable for summer.

Mary Nugent also wrote another great Saturday was spent with Feltmakers North learning lattice work technique under the professional guidance of Gail who showered us with an abundance of knowledge and patience. I learned several new and handy tips and am delighted with my finished piece. I intend to experiment at home and look forward to showing off my new creations at next months felt in.


The draw will take place soon for the Elizabeth Bonnar Nuno workshop, and the lucky people will be notified. The great thing about these workshops all the materials are supplied all the patiscipants have to bring is their felting kit and a packed lunch. We have another surprise for the lucky felters but that will be revealed at the workshop and I will tell you in the post about the workshop!!
I would love people to send me some photos of their felting which I can add to the gallery, its very inspirational seeing other felters work, so dont be shy and send me a photo to feltmakersnorth@gmail.com
Fiona Harvey
                                                                                                   

The Mad Hatters!

Saturday 4th February Feltmakers North held a hat workshop, the tutors were Gail Cooke and Fiona Harvey (me) Gail had ordered lots of lovely wool tops in a great variety of colours also some silk fibres! We started with a wee cup of coffee to make sure everyone was awake and raring to go.

                                   Gail discussing the variety of hats we had brought with us. 
Everyone selected a pattern, and set to create their hat. The workshop was full so there was plenty of chat, but everyone worked hard to produce their hat reflecting their own style.

                                          There was great concentration and attention to detail.

                                                                                           
Like most times when a crowd of ladies get together there were lots of laughs, especially when Denise first tried on her hat! (below)

The day passed very quickly and Gail and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being with a group of very creative and keen feltmakers. Everyone went home with a finished hat and the variety of hats was tremendous. I am putting more photos in the gallery for you to look at!

 This is what Cherri Conlon wrote about the day; Have just finished my first hat workshop. it was a great day and coming home with a completed hat was a thrill and a wonderful sense of achievement. Many thanks to Gail and Fiona who obviously had put in a lot of preparation.

                                                The Mad Hatters
Dorothy Dinsmore wrote; thank you both for a great day. I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, it was very much a hands on day.
Don't forget to check out the gallery for close ups of some of the hats! Looking forward to seeing you at the felt in in February, I know its going to be great fun learning how to make lattice felting!   
Fiona Harvey