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clover
Chatty Knitter
USA
147 Posts |
 Posted - 01/07/2005 : 03:28:04 AM
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This i originally posted over on the introduce yourself forum:
Over Christmas break I broke down and felted some stuff which I have been dying to do. I had the idea of using plastic canvas as forms for felting upon, in order to felt to size. I made a square potholder and a slipper for my daughter. Traced her foot and made pattern out of plastic canvas, knitted bigger and basted the oversized sole to the plastic canvas. then felted in the sink. it worked like a charm! - very satisfying. made another pattern for the upper part of the slipper and did the same thing. ended up with an upper and a sole to sew together. am now thinking about basting the plastic canvas together first and knitting the sole and the upper at the same time and felting them onto the 3 dimensional plastic canvas slipper form. follow me? i am obsessed now with felting on a form, not just blocking a felted item on a form afterwards.
yarnii - basically the idea is to control the felting by basting the oversize unfelted object right onto plastic canvas which has been cut to the exact size you want. baste the edge of the knitting right up to the edge of the plastic form but don't worry about the middle. it drives me nuts that stuff tends to shrink more in the middle and the salvages are bigger. i know there are ways to control it but i want something with even more control.
this has a big advantage:
You don't have to worry so much about swatching. if you have a good felting yarn and big enough needles, you can make it go pretty much anyway you want. it will come out exactly the same size as the form.
also don't have to worry much about shaping etc. in the knitted item. it'll be taken care of by the form. i just knit the vaguest oversize sole shape for the slipper. didn't bother to swatch first and find out expected shirkage in length or width. also no guesswork during the felting process, it is done when it is the same size as the form. note to self!: better block on form to make sure it doesn't shrink more!
creating flat pieces and sewing them up afterwards does work but i think it would be much better to use 3 dimensional forms and avoid sewing. after all it is a pain in the butt and the whole point of felted objects is they're so cute and 3 dimensional. must ponder this... possibly could use old (too small) shoes for this.
i'll post some pics scans but they aren't before and afters. what would have been helpful, perhaps, is a pic of the unfelted item basted to the form.
plastic canvas slipper forms:
http://home.gci.net/~sjuliuss/canvas
bottom of slipper (not pretty at all, not happy with seams)
http://home.gci.net/~sjuliuss/bottom
top of slipper
http://home.gci.net/~sjuliuss/top
btw: i eventually started using a plastic mini ice cube tray like a washboard at the sink and the felting went a lot faster. |
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Crey
Seriously Hooked
827 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2005 : 07:16:22 AM
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Clover - this is a great idea Can't you make a 3 dimensional form from the plastic canvas? sew it together like you would the slipper, put it inside the knitted form - anchor the wool to the form and throw it in the washing machine - the form might need some stabilization but I like the idea that water can flow through it - Hmmmmmm - weekedn project??? - Crey
"Water that is too pure has no fish." -Ts'ai Ken T'an |
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fmarrs
Guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2005 : 12:31:46 PM
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I don't see any reason why the plastic canvas could not be sewn together before putting the slipper on it. I would sew it with something that would not felt or attach itself to the felting, possibly some of those plastic laces sold in craft areas for children to use for bracelets.
fran |
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