Tuesday, February 2, 2016

DIY: Needle-Felted Decor, Part 1

Might we please have a lil confession time up in here? Cuz I need to unpack some stuff and I don't mean those boxes that have been in my garage since we moved seven years ago (real talk: those boxes ain't never gonna see the light of day, y'all, let's just be honest). 

Confession Numero Uno: Not only am I crummy housekeeper, I'm also pretty sucktastic at that whole decorating thingie too. You can't be good at everything, y'all (hair flip). And I most def have a big fat hairy list of items at which I am no bueno: cooking, cleaning, yard maintenance and, you guessed it, decorating. I mean, I can decorate  an art room like nobody's biznatch but working on our house has me all...
I just can't even. I don't even know where to start. In fact, we've got this one room that normal folk be calling a bonus room which I've dubbed the BOGUS room. It's just one more space for me to not clean and not decorate. I did attempt bedazzling it when we first moved in and painted up these round paintings which have that lovely early-2000's color palette...
AND that's pretty much all I ever did to that room. In fact, every time I wandered into the bonus room with a lil decorating on my mind, I'd take one look around and be all...
Now I know I sound totes ungrateful as many folk don't have a surplus of space. And lately, I've been working on a Super Top Secret Project (details to come!) in which the bonus room has become a great place to stretch out and work. For that reason, I'm really putting my heart into making this space one that I love to come to and work in. And I decided my first order of business was updating those horrible round painting thingies. 
 Now if you've been hanging around this here blog for a hawt minute then you know I love all things Mary Blair. I've created paintings inspired by her, made necklaces, you name it. So I decided I wanted to Mary Blair-ize the bonus room! But I wasn't feeling very certain I wanted to invest a ton o' time into it if I wasn't gonna love it. So I uprooted these white and gold plate/frame thingies I found for cheap at TJMaxx several months ago and decided to create some wee needle felted sketches! The above is what my sewing table looked like before...
And then after. Now imagine that as MY ENTIRE HOUSE and you've pretty much got the picture. Say a lil prayer and light a candle for my hubs, would ya?
After a little bit of playing around, I came up with this! I was super pleased. Y'all know I'm a big fan of needle felting as it's just about the most easiest thing in the world. In fact, I always find myself needle felting to excess in the winter months. Check out last week's DIY
 Just a lil closer look. 
I wasn't as in love with this one but I figured, eh, it's just a sketch. I'm sure to change it up quite a bit when I design the larger format circle. 
 I like needle felting on patchworked pieces of fabric. One of my first wall pieces from needle felting was done that way. I like how it adds just another layer to the design. 
Even though I still had one more little needle felted sketch to complete, I decided to dive right in to the making of my first large wall hanging. Mostly cuz I knew I'd have the help of this bad boy...
What you see here is not a sewing machine but something far more magical: a needle felting machine! That's right, y'all, like a rare rainbow farting unicorn, they do exist! The hubs got it for me for Christmas for not too much dinero on el Amazons. 
I love the thing. All I had to do was just tack some of the roving into place and slide it under the half dozen needles on that machine, hit the pedal and let the machine do the stabbing. It isn't great for detail work so I do resort to my trusty Clover needle felting pen for that. 
 But it's fab at blocking in large areas for me and look!
 One down! Only two more to go!
 C'mon, man! How about a lil power of positive thinkerin'?!
Okay, confession numero dos: this is pretty much how I feel. However, I'm determined-ish to follow this through and have at least one room in our house that looks decorated and finished. I'll keep all y'all posted. 
Until then, y'all!
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8 comments:

  1. Dear Cassie,
    They are so lovely! And I've never even heard of a needle felting machine.
    I also think it is brilliant that you are doing them on patterned fabrics and mixing and matching with them. How you ever get time to do anything like this with the sort of Visual Arts program you run at your school I will never know? I certainly don't get time to do anything for myself except watch the occasional bit of telly. I seem to be stuck doing school work every night! I haven't written a blog post in months!

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  2. Ok, you are one of the coolest people I (don't really) know! I need this machine. I have so much fabric and wool and roving and ... this will be a good project buster! Thanks for being a crafty inspiration!

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  3. SO I did NOT get the job I was hoping for (at first) and then kinda did not want (after researching WHY there were art positions open to begin with... they PINKED EVERY ES ART TEACHER THIS YEAR. And the year before that. And the year before that... you get the picture!). So I came back to your site to see about finding some coolio stuff to do with my teens with the MASSIVE supply of fabric I have recently inherited. (Massive is a conservative adjective, actually. It takes up a 16' long set of uppermost shelving in my storage and the boxes are stacked 4 paper-box high!!!!). I LOVE to felt. So this is pretty near the most perfect solution for my second- and third-year Crafts students!! WOOHOO!!!

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    1. Sorry about the gig...but it truly sounds like it was for the bestest! The problem with finding an art teacherin' job is that there are only so many, you really gotta have a combo of luck, karma and perseverance to make it happen. I'm guessing you have all those things. In the meantime HOLY FABRIC HEAVEN! have fun needle felting!!

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  4. Thanks for a wonderful share. Your article has proved your hard work and experience you have got in this field. Brilliant .i love it reading.
    diy

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  5. Hi Cassie, love your site. What material is it ok to needle felt on? Thanks for sharing :)

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  6. Thanks for helpful sharing. I will make it at home

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