Simply Felt: 20 Easy and Elegant Designs in Wool [Paperback]

Margaret Docherty (Author), Jayne Emerson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

The fundamentals of felting including choosing fibers and colors, making flat felt and boiling felt, and stitching felt are demonstrated in 20 beautiful projects in a range of contemporary colors in this beginner's guide. Projects include a cloche hat, a child's jacket, slippers, delicate scarves, square and inlayed throw pillows, and a long-lasting rug. Each project is presented with simple step-by-step instructions, illustrations, and alternative samples and suggestions that help felters to create their own designs. Felters can bring this highly handcrafted style into their wardrobes and home decor with these simple and beautiful pieces.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fun for people of all ages and experience...Transform it from ordinary to something feltastic!"  —Country Accents

About the Author

Margaret Docherty is a fiber artist who teaches felt making, rug making, and vegetable dyeing. Jayne Emerson is an embroidery and textile designer whose designs sell to a wide range of internationally renowned fashion houses, including Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, and Louis Vuitton. She is the designer and cofounder of the UK fashion label Salvage Salvage.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931499705
• ISBN-13: 978-1931499705
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #534,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Felt projects that are not run-of-the-mill, September 30, 2004

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simply Felt: 20 Easy and Elegant Designs in Wool (Paperback)

Forgive the textile-mill double-entendre here, but "Simply Felt" has a number of unique projects to tempt the beginning and advanced felt-maker.

Felt is a fun way to process sheep's wool, and it's growing in popularity. With a scrub board, soap and some fleece, you can create a finished project (garment, bag, vest, hat) in less time than it takes to spin and knit. Felt is an ancient art, predating woven fabrics, and still used today by many cultures for traditional garb; for example, the Siberian "valenki" are felt boots or liners that resist cold and snow better than leather. And many hats are traditionally made of felt on a block.

Speaking of hats, this book has a cloche hat I really liked. My favorite project, however, was a pillow of small squares sewn together with the seams out, for texture. If you make small pieces of felt and don't know what to do with the swatches, here's a great project for you.. There are bags, cache-pots, teapot warmers, slippers and a lot more. Many of the projects look a bit modernistic (abstract fiber imbedded to make a design) but you can use the methods to create your own design and go from there. I did not like some of the projects colorways or ornamentation, but every one gave me the thought "if I did THIS instead..." which is great; you don't need to copy these projects to use them. (I will say, however, that I adored the pillow colorway--pale blues, creams and grays, enough to make one of my own.) I figure, if you take these methods and employ your own tastes and ideas, you are sure to find some excellent projects to make here. This would also be ideal for a girl or boy scout troop badge project, a 4-H project (especially for a young person who raises sheep) or for your child or students, as felt is fairly amenable to children's abilities and interests.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars taking felt to a new level, July 20, 2006

By 

waldorf_curric - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Simply Felt: 20 Easy and Elegant Designs in Wool (Paperback)

I already own several felting books (The Art of Feltmaking and Exploring Textile Arts) and when I purchased this one I was very excited to learn more about this ancient craft. When the book arrived I didn't think there was a lot of new information in it at first, compared to what I already have. I was somewhat disappointed (although the diagrams are good and the directions are clear) but at the very end of the book -- ta da! -- I suddenly became inspired. That was what I wanted... something new and inspirational.

In the section called Decorative Flat Felt, she suggests adding small amounts of wool to to a fabric base, such as chiffon, silk, cheesecloth, or voile to make "a marvelously light and airy but durable fabric, which is ideal for scarves." I love the idea of combining cheesecloth with felt. Very inexpensive and easy to try. She gives a lot of suggestions using silk fibers, many of which are gorgeous. I like the Silk Inlaid Lampshade (page 67) -- an idea which was completely new to me. The Inlaid Containers (shown on the cover) are brilliant -- so easy to do, so useful!

But my two favorite projects, by far, are the last two: Child's Silk-Lined Jacket (page 111) and the Pictoral Pillow (page 115). The jacket is drop-dead gorgeous and looks really fun to make, which is more important than being gorgeous because otherwise you won't bother to make it. The pillow section is full of good ideas and these projects are more about already having the skill to make the basic structure and letting your imagination run wild when it comes to the embellishments. I purchased several pieces of feltwork which I received and wasn't happy with -- they were too plain, really boring and uninspired and I was thinking, these need something and I can certainly try to add it but I don't know what to do. I was a little intimidated at the idea of completely redesigning them on my own. But I have the time and the determination and now I have some sample pictures and the directions I need -- and now I feel ready! There's plenty of time from now to Christmas to add more details, embroidery, and what-not. I'm very excited! Sometimes a little structure is more liberating than complete creative freedom. Even if I may not do any of the projects in the book exactly, I can feel my mind brimming with new ideas... which I wouldn't have come to without reading the book.

If you already know about felt and you're pretty comfortable with what you're doing, you don't need it... but if you're ready to move into doing more glamorous and artsy things with your felt projects, Simply Felt is a good buy.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Inspirational!, April 6, 2006

By 

Morgan's Mom - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simply Felt: 20 Easy and Elegant Designs in Wool (Paperback)

I am a spinner, weaver, knitter and crocheter, but I've done very little (intentional) felting...until now! This book starts off with a very brief chapter on machine felting (taking a knitted or crocheted piece of fabric and shrinking it into felt using the washing machine), but then moves quickly on to traditional felting techniques using loose fiber. Projects are grouped into chapters by felting technique, beginning with the easiest (making flat felt pieces like table runners and rugs) and ending with three-dimensional, seamless felting (hats, jackets, bags, etc). At all stages, the learning of a technique is emphasized over blindly following a pattern. Even though many patterns are included for each technique, variations are suggested and experimentation is encouraged. Just paging through this book is inspirational. The photography is lush, the projects themselves are comfy yet luxurious (such as a silk-lined, felted child's jacket made without a single seam), and best of all, none of the projects or techniques are the least intimidating. Very highly recommended!