felting an old jumper

I have seen many posts about repurposing jumpers by felting them in a hot wash, so I dug out an old jumper that I no longer wear.  I tried it on before using it to make sure I definitely didn't like it any more.  I was absolutely amazed and highly amused when it came out after washing it on my hottest wash!  It would not fit on a two year old lol

Upcycled Denim Dress.

Well, it depends on your opinion whether you think this is an 'upcycled' denim dress, or a 'downcycled' one.

I know what my 70 year old mum would say.  She would say I had ruined a perfectly good dress!

 However, my 22 year old daughter and my 13 year old foster child both think it is amazing.  I will leave you to make up your own mind.

I bought this Marks and Spencers maxi length denim dress off ebay for my daughter a few years ago.  She wore it for a short while then it was left in the wardrobe for years.  So I decided to have a play with it.

First thing first.  I needed to shorten it.  I measured 18 inches from the bottom right across and joined the dots up to make sure I got it all the same length.

I even did the front and the back of the dress separately to make sure it was even all around.

Once fully marked up, I cut the dress with a little help from my Constant Companion of course!

I have a nice piece of denim left which I am sure will be made into something else.

I then had to start the lengthy fraying process.  I must admit I did not like this bit, I found it tedious and difficult on my arthritic hands.  I got bored of doing and decided I would do some more once the dress was further along.

Once frayed all around, this is how it looked shorter.  I now had to decide what else to change.

After discussion with my daughter, I decided to remove the sleeves.  It was a simple as just cutting it them off, leaving an extremely small amount of material to fray.

This is how the sleeve looked once cut and fayed.

I then decided to distress the pockets a bit.  I put my tape measure in the pocket.

Then with the sharp edge of my scissors I began to rub back and forth to break the threads down.

This is the finishing touch.

I then tried to tie dye the dress with bleach and string.  I failed miserably, below is the result.  This was the first time I had tried and I did not put enough bleach into the water or leave it long enough.  This was the result after bleaching and washing.  So nothing for it, just needed to give it another go!

I asked my wonderful husband to bring some leather bands home for me, and I made the dress look like something resembling Medusa's hair.  When you think you have enough elastic bands on your item, just look, you will find loads of room to add more!

I then made up a solution of one part bleach to three parts water.  I actually used a whole bottle of bleach and three litres of water as I bleached a sweatshirt at the same time.  I left it for two hours then washed it in the washing machine afterwards.  Luckily enough my tie dye bleaching technique worked this time and came out really well.  I may distress it a bit further, put a few holes at the bottom of the dress, but I will let my daughter try it on first and then decide.  

Needle felted pin cushion

After needle felting my abstract picture I kept loosing/misplacing my felting needles.  I do have a nice little case for them, but often it's effort to locate and open it!  I realised I needed a pin cushion and decided I wanted to needle felt one.  I browsed the internet for inspiration, there were several pin cushions that were animal's but to be honest I would struggle to stick a pins in a cute animal, I even have trouble needle felting them, especially the eyes! hahaha.  The following pin cushions gave me inspiration for my eventual piece.

I loved all the above idea's.  I liked the idea of a pin cushion in something like a cup or pot.  Unfortunately I did not have any pretty cups left as I had made candles in all of them for Christmas presents, so I found a small terracotta plant pot.  I liked the idea of a little scene like the ones with the rabbits etc, so this was the result:-

A little dinky scene with a little cottage with flowers, trees and a river at the back.  I love it, and had lots of fun making it :)

Needle felting on polystyrene/styrofoam

 I was searching online for inspiration for making more needle felt Christmas ornaments when I came across a tutorial for making these baubles.  They are covered styrofoam balls.  I was unaware that you could needle felt into this medium!  The tutorial for these baubles can be found here it is a lovely site with many ideas.

I had no sytrofoam ball's to hand, so found a piece of polystyrene that had come in the form of packaging and had a go at needle felting it.  As I was just having a practice to see how the two medium's worked together I did an abstract pattern.  In all honesty I was just doodling with wool! This was the result.