I have been planning this blog posting now for ages but time, weather and other assorted things got the best of me.  I know that this is long time in coming, Yvonne knows that, you however did not know this so sit back and enjoy this treat.  I am very excited to share this artist and these two wonderful felted creations with you.

Yvonne bought some of my 15.5 micron Merino from the Alba Ranch Shop Online.  I include a hand written note on the receipt always and usually ask  they send photos of what they create as I just love to see.  Sadly most buyers do not send photos of their creations.  Yvonne did. and WOW were they great.  I asked her if I could write about her two creations and show photos and she said yes.  The photographs were taken by Ky Von Burg, Yvonne’s youngest son.

The second dress was made with the same materials as Dress 1 but she used a small amount of colored stretched merino to create the subtle color at the front.

 

 

Yvonne’s process of how she creates is similar in what I have seen and read about wet felting.  She does one thing that I had not seen personally before which was using a template from a well fitting dress.  Duh that just makes wonderful sense.  How smart she is!

For both dresses she used a bubble wrap template which she loosely based on a well fitting dress and then enlarged by 50 percent. She laid the wool top on the template very thinly, in all directions with some overhanging on the outsides. She then wet the wool with soapy lukewarm water and then laid the silk fabric on. Because the fabric is larger then the template it folds and crunches. She then turned it over and did the same. She folded the overhanging bits over to create a whole.

She started felting by putting some netting over the top and rubbing both sides. When it starts to felt, she starts rolling it. When it shrinks, she takes the template out, roll it more and finish off with extra felting where she wants to shape it more.  She probably used between 150 and 200 grams of wool top for each dress.

I think it is amazing that she created these beautiful dresses using such a small amount of fiber.  I, for some reason, thought felting like this took so much more fiber.  That may explain why my first attempt at a scarf created something that I use for a table runner on my grand piano!

The first dress was made using paj silk and the 15.5 micron merino wool top she bought from us. The dress was then eco printed with eucalyptus leaves.

 

You can visit Yvonne’s shop online and see more of her wonderful creations.