Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Felting Fail

I'm very new to all this felting (or felling) business. I've had a crack at felting some old sweaters in the wash, and mostly they have been coming out quite well. I found this big ugly sweater at the op shop recently and was feeling in the mood for a little refashioning ala clutterpunk style. I had visions of this fabulous chunky cardi with short sleeves and chunky buttons. It looked so wonderful.... in my head.

I thought this would be perfect. A nice soft knit, quite light, loose weave. I thought (with my limited felting knowledge) that this wouldn't felt up too tightly, being a loose knit. As it was also obviously handmade I had no idea of fibre content, so I was flying blind. Maybe not a good idea.



I'm sure it would make a great re-fashion statement for a 6 month old, what do you think?



Please excuse the disgusting mess on my carpet in that top photo. I'm in tidy mode in my craft room this week, the results of which I hope to reveal in Thursdays creative space.

4 comments:

Kylie said...

Oh, that is funny and cute! You can still rescue it, though... instead of pleating etc (a la the clever Gina) you can add to it... insert a panel here and there + it'll be fabulous! Good luck. K

Lisa said...

Why don't you make a purse out of it? I posted a couple on my blog that I did from old felted sweaters. Look under the "sewing" label. Don't worry, you'll think of something.

CurlyPops said...

Would it be wrong of me to laugh out loud?
I would have never expected it to shrink that much...hee hee

Gina said...

Oh, that is the cutest lil jumper I ever did see! Having a good belly laugh. I really was very lucky with my felting effort, I must confess. I think the tighter the weave the LESS it shrinks actually, because there's already less space between fibres. But actually that's an uneducated guess. So... howsabout a nice midriff number? LOL!!!