Ick. Rain. What to do on a rainy day? Well, it’s like rainy day playtime! Thankfully we didn’t have to go anywhere, or do anything today, so after clearing up from the party it was time to play!

Not 5 minutes after we finished clearing the table, Mr M and Brother M got out the Lego.

…in this case the Ultimate Collectors Edition Star Wars Super Star Destroyer… Yeah… I know…

…and while they were building that, my lovely Rivka and I decided to do some felting!

In anticipation of the Kindle I have requested from Mr M for my birthday, the plan was to felt a Kindle cover like the one that she has for hers.

Pretty yes? She had finished it off with some pre-made brads from Hobbycraft, then lined with some thin pre-made felt to protect the Kindle. She buys her wool supplies from World of Wool online, and had brought a few colours in small amounts with her for us to have a play with!

So, first things first. As it is all to be felted in one bit, rather than a piece which is then sewn together, a resist is made to prevent the fibres from felting together in the middle. In this case we made ours from a old piece of bubblewrap. High tech yes?

The wool being used for this project is Merino, which has a 30% shrinkage, so I cut a resist 1 and a half times the size of the Kindle template.

Lay the wool horizontally across the resist, over a further piece of bubble wrap, with a slight overlap at the edge….

…..then wet using some slightly soapy water and fold over the bubble wrap and smooth over.

Fold over the overlap edges, then repeat the above.

Laid out.

Wet, folded, smoothed out. Next, lay further fibres lengthwise, again with an overlap at the edges.

Wet, flip, foldover the edges, repeat…

This process is then repeated, giving two layers each direction on each side.

Next, it gets massaged with the fingertips through the bubble wrap, felting the fibres together until when you pinch them they are well adhered to each other.

Then…. it is time to roll.

The rolling is part of the felting process, to ensure the fibres are firmly compressed and felted together. Once this is complete, pick an end, take a deep breath, and cut across to open it up and remove the resist. You then may need to  work the fabric with your fingers to smooth away lumps and bumps, particularly on the edges.

Then, it is plunged into hot water to start the shrinking process, the fulling. Shrink and stretch, shrink and stretch, until it is the size required…

Then it’s time to shock the fibres and stiffen them up by hitting it with a wooden spoon!

Then, time to dry.

…..meanwhile, the professional did some material felting, same process, but in this case the piece is felted through a piece of cotton muslin, with a horizontal layer one side…

…and a vertical layer on the other. The piece is then manipulated in the same way as above, the structural integrity being provided by the fabric, the felted fibres providing colour and texture.

This is then going to be used for a further project.

….to be continued!

P.s. my kitchen currently smells like wet sheep. Not pleasant.

P.p.s. last night we watched these:

..which led to Rivka giving me my birthday present early…

Full of lots of Austen inspired projects, then I can feel just like Anne Elliot! Eeeek! Time to start practicing the fancy knitting!