Saving my Moth Eaten Cardigan

I was very disappointed when I pulled out one of my favorite cardigans - I like it because it's sooo long - and found that moths had wreaked havoc. It was covered in holes. Some of them were large enough to poke a finger through. So sad! I was ready to throw it onto the thrift shop pile (or the to-be-felted pile) when I decided to try to save it. 

I had seen pictures of people using wool felt to make elbow patches. I thought it was worth a shot. Of course I had holes all over. So I thought I'd try a branch with leaves pattern, thinking that would let me meander all over the sweater to cover all the holes.





First I cut out leaf shapes from some wool sweaters that I had felted for earlier projects. I didn't use a pattern; I just free-handed it. But I like how that made each leaf a little different. Then I needle felted the leaves to the sweater.

Next I added some wisps of dyed wool roving to add some texture and variation in color to the leaves.

Then I used wool yarn to make the branches. I twisted the yarn unevenly as I went to give it texture.

I continued to trail the branches all over the back adding leaves where there were holes or where they were needed for the design. But it was all very freehand and unplanned.

 Here's a picture showing the entire back. The design also wraps around one side so I could cover more holes. 

I had to add one more leaf on the front to cover a small group of holes. Instead of trailing a branch there, I just made it a falling leaf.

For the final touch I used a fabric marker and very lightly drew an almost imperceptible curving line down the center of the leaves with a few veins added in. It's almost invisible, but it improved the look overall. 

Now I'm going to try to talk my husband into going to the First Friday gallery walk so I can take it for a test drive. Wish me luck!

Christmas Gifts - Felted Potholders

Sorry, it's been so long since my first post. I was all set to really buckle down and blog regularly, but early in December my father became ill. He passed away somewhat unexpectedly a few days later. Ironically he was on his way home from the hospital after beating his pneumonia when he died getting out of his car. Just when we thought he'd dodged a bullet. So I've been busy with his estate and, of course, with Christmas.

I love to make handmade Christmas presents. There's just something wonderful about a gift made with by hand with care. I do it every year, and thought about skipping it this year after my Dad passed away. But the week of Christmas, I was overcome by a need to create something. So I made potholders. I had already machine felted a number of thrift shop sweaters for earlier projects. So I cut out squares of the felt, then added needle felted decorations.

Here are a few of my creations. Somehow I neglected to take a picture of my favorite - I guess I had already wrapped it. It was impressionistic; I wanted it to look like flowers in a meadow.

I'm fairly new to needle felting, but I liked how these flowers turned out.

This one is very basic but I liked the sinuous shape. I added a coordinating button with contrasting yarn crocheted to form a loop for hanging. 

I can't decide whether this one is a meteor shower or a variation on a Van Gogh.

This is one of my more abstract ones; I love the colors.

I knew these colors would work beautifully in my sister-in-law's kitchen.

This one is the craziest. I felted in pieces of yarn, roving, and more sari silk scraps. (Can you ever have too much silk?)

I even fired up my cast iron pan and let it get nice and hot to test them. I picked up the skillet with one of these and then with my store-bought oven mitt. The felted wool worked better. Hooray!

Merry Christmas!