My Journey Felting with Handwovens

As a fiber artist, I have been working with incorporating bits of handwoven scraps into my Wetfelts. My first work, “The End of a Sunny Day”, developed from my work as a featured artist at the Ochard Gallery in 2019. It included Handwoven scraps from woven yardage I made for a Daryl Lancaster retreat. The yardage was used to make a vest which was featured in the juried exhibition Color: Classic to Contemporary (Chattahoochie Weavers Guild, Georgia). The fabric scraps have a special meaning to me and I thought, why not include them in some of my work! When including larger scraps of handwoven fabrics, it is easiest to have them backed with interfacing and machine stitch after. I will often add some handwoven pieces of smaller cutout shapes in the wetfelting stage.

Close-up of End of a Sunny Day with Handwoven on a Wetfelt

These pieces of handwoven scraps worked well with the felted merino wool because they had a 2/10 merino Tencel weft. The scraps of handwoven were machine stitched to the Wetfelt after drying. It remains as one of my favorite feltings to date and sold prior to our March artist reception at the Orchard Gallery.

Handwoven Bamboo Flowers beginnings

Another favorite place I visited is Blooming Hills Lavender Farm in Virginia. During the wetfelting layout process I discovered that bamboo roving does not felt well unless mixed with other fibers and it left some of the fiber unsecure (see left). I ended up using my bamboo handwoven fabric scraps to machine stitch on top (right side). The handwoven was an advancing twill of bamboo warp and 8/2 tencel weft. It did unravel some, but it added a nice texture to create the lavendar flowers and created stability of the bamboo fiber underneath.

Close up view of Lavender

The work in progress photo portrays my added machine (black) and hand stitching (lavendar and greens). Prior to machine stitching, I will iron on some lightweight interfacing to the back. I prepare my sewing machine by dropping the feed dogs and removing the pressure foot. I’ve found it’s best to extend my machine stitch length for free form machine stitching. Stitching in white color thread can add highlights as seen on trees in background.

I can often use weaving thrums or embroidery thread for hand stitching. Six strands of embroidery threads will work and sometimes two ply thrum threads need to be doubled or tripled in order to show up. I learned to sew and embroider from my mother and father growing up and will often use the French knot to add dimension. In this case, it was not needed as the handwoven provided that effect.

Blooming Hills

I finished this piece during the pandemic shutdown and framed it for the Orchard Gallery of Fine Arts. A double matting or a matting with spacers keeps the glass off the artwork.