rosiepink

Felt flowers for mum's birthday card

Annie

It was mum's birthday recently and I like to make cards when I can although invariably I run out of time and am late!  I often start by having a rummage through the odds and ends of scraps and samples in my sewing room looking for something to use as a start.  This time I dug out a piece of flat felt from the end of last year that I had actually made for Christmassy things but didn't use it, and then in the spring had appliqued a few flowers on it and then abandoned it.  So this time I gave it it's third outing and ended up with a nice flowery card for mum's birthday, which was at the end of July but she received it a few weeks late!  Well I couldn't have delivered on time else dad might have thought it was favouritism :)   It's funny how with fresh eyes something once discarded can later be made into something new.

The basic process involved machine appliqueing small pieces of handmade felt onto a felted background to form the flowers, then adding lots of hand stitching around the edges and on the background.  Finally I cut round the design, edged it with a free motion zig zag and stuck it to a folded piece of A4 card.

Here's a pic of the back of the stitching at about half way through. As always, I liked the look of the back too!

A Memory in Felt and Stitch

Lyn

Cowes week is the oldest and largest annual sailing regatta in the world and today marks the end of the 2016 event hosted by the Isle of Wight.

Back in 2010 we took our young grand-daughter to Lepe Beach where there is a great view of the Solent and the Isle of Wight. The beach is mainly stones and shells but if you look hard enough there is just enough sand to make a few castles.  

Path to Lepe Beach on the Solent with the Isle of Wight in the distance

As the tide was still coming in, we managed to paddle out quite a long way and we saw a small yacht come aground on the sand bar close to where we stood.  The captain's enthusiasm must have exceeded his ability! The sails flapped wildly and there was much shouting and confusion.

But mostly we just stood there in the sea, hand in hand, watching the yachts go by.  It's that precious memory that I wanted to catch in felt and stitch.

Memories can be sharp on the good bits and fuzzy on the rest, so I decided to only colour the figures to highlight the important part of my memory.

I made a piece of bright white merino felt then I started to stitch hand-made felt on for the clothing, but it looked too solid.  Out came the stitch-ripper.

I rummaged around in my scraps box and found some frilly edges (when I make felt for cutting shapes from, I don't bother to neaten the edges so they end up frilly).

I stitched pieces of frilly felt onto the figures and found that the effect is dreamy - perfect for my memory picture.