Detour

I hope you're not here looking to see the finished jacket I blogged about last time. I hit a major snag (such as cutting the wrong size) argh!!! I can fix it but for now I am going on to other things and I will get back to it. Later!

FANE (Fiber Artists of the North East), a group of which I am a member, puts on a special exhibit at our local guild show every year. For many years the show has been held in a high school and our group was given a class room for our display. We have done some interesting and unusual displays, such as totems that hung from the ceiling, kimono-like pieces that were displayed on wooden stands, large cubes covered in fabric, and others.

The high school where the show was held for many years has booted us out for various reasons and we had to scamper to find a new venue, which we did. This year it will be in the huge O'Neil Athletic Center at Western CT State University in Danbury. It is a very large space, which is used for many things and the quilt displays and all the vendors will be in the same room. So we had to think of something for our group that would work in this space. After a lot of brain storming we decided to make chains of fiber art that will hang from pipes like the ones that are used to display quilts. They will be in a zig-zag formation, which will give us a curtain effect. Sort of like those beaded curtains from the 70's, only made from fiber.

The chains, which we are calling Fiber Falls, are to be 8 feet long consisting of geometric shapes, no smaller that 3 inches, no larger than 5. They can be made of any kind of fiber and they must be attractive from both sides with spaces no more than 2 inches between. Each member is to make at least three chains. They do not have to match, but each chain should be cohesive.

Coming off my button projects and my felted sweaters, I finished my first one today. I pulled out a black sweater that I had felted twice last year and then I felted it three more times. I wanted my squares to be rigid. Now is where the buttons come in. I sewed glued on buttons on each side. Actually my plan was to sew them on using black thread, but after the first square, I decided that gel medium was the way to go. After they were all glued on I took a black Sharpie and drew on thread lines. Sneaky. I know!

The only place I could hang it for a picture was from the curtain rod in my living room. What you can't see in the picture is that they twist and turn with the slightest breeze.

I didn't realize how heavy these would be. Between the weight of the felted squares and the buttons, it is heftier that I thought. You can see how is is pulling a bit at the tops of the squares. I did use a heavy button hole thread, but I hope that the squares hold up.

Here is it turned on itself on the floor.

My squares are 3 3/4 inch and one inch apart.

My other two Fiber Falls are in the works and are totally different than this one, so come back and see what I've done.