JANE'S JUST PERFECT EDGES!!

Today saw us back to basics and what a perfect way to launch into our Covid Conscious Felt-ins!  

Hillsborough Village Centre was eerily quiet this morning but not for long as Feltmakers North got back to business after our six month absence.  How good it felt to see everyone again - although unfortunately with most of us it was eyes only!  With carefully restricted numbers things didn't feel quite the same but everyone was eager to work together again as we concentrated on making some small samples to be used in the weighted blankets Feltmakers North is preparing as part of the Community Outreach Project.

But first it was Show N Tell and lots of us shared some of the pieces we'd made during lockdown.

Jayne's gorgeous bag with a leather strap which she made as part of Lyda Rump's workshop in March.

Isn't the leather trimming really something on Ann's bag - just makes it very special.

Sarah's bag with machine stitching which beautifully highlights the flower and leaves

Ann and Gail had done some eco-printing with Nicola Brown in her online courses and shared some of their pieces

Some girls brought their finished scarves from our recent Shelley Steele workshop and everyone admired the amazing colours.

Elaine's little granddaughter shared much of her lockdown time with her grandparents and under Elaine's watchful eye the pair created their first dragon!  Still to be stuffed and given the means of flight but a lovely creative thing to do over lockdown.  Her bag seen in the picture is from Lyda Rump's workshop.

I honestly think we could have spent the entire morning looking at the creations and chatting about techniques and the merits of various wools but we had a project to begin.

Jane talked us through the myriad of samples she had made discussing each one in turn and then demonstrated the careful lay using an A4 template as a guide.   

Each sample was carefully labelled and Jane suggested lots of interesting things which could be included in our samples which would be child friendly.

The creme de la creme came when she shared her technique for ensuring straight edges using netting and soap and very careful handling of the wet wool.

Finally once everyone had completed their individual samples to the fulling stage, Jane again went through each of her fulling techniques to shrink the sample by 30% - essential for uniformity and really good solid robust felt which would stand up to lots of wear n tear.

Jane against a background of lots of clutter!

I'm going to share some of our photos from today just working away together.  I'm sure you'll notice, we are all wearing masks and are at least 2 metres apart!

Anna showing a little van she created to be used for the children's project.  The pieces didn't get finished by the time we had to pack up so Jane's fulling techniques will have to be completed at home - all except speedy Sarah who always seems to get her things finished!

Some of the yet to be completed pieces for the weighted blankets.

A big thank you to Jane for leading the session and inspiring everyone to get back to felting and helping us to refresh some of those skills which might have slipped a bit!

I'm going to sign off with another couple of images of pieces shared today.

A close up of Ann's beautiful hanging made during lockdown.

And finally I couldn't resist not sharing these with you made by Maighread for her new grandchild

Just adorable - congratulations!!

Please keep in touch with us and look out for news of the next Felt-in planned for October - so fingers crossed. . . . . .

All the best

Gail