Embroidered Felted Bowl

 Awhile ago Laura Wasilowski posted some charming embroidered felted bowls. I was intrigued. I emailed her and asked how she sewed without having the stitches showing on the inside of the bowl. She not only told me how, but also did a short video showing how.

I am in Florida now for two months and always like to have some handwork to do. embroidery, watercolor, card making, etc.  So I went to the site where Laura gets her felted bowls (Fibres of Life) and ordered one and them picked out some Perle cotton threads from my stash and packed it away in my suitcase. 

I found that it was pretty easy to do, once I got the hang of it. I used a very large needle that was easy to slide between the fibers of the felt. I only did a little bit each day and finished it yesterday. I can't wait to do another, but that will have to wait until I get home in April because  that is where my large stash of Perle cotton threads resides.

I divided the bowl into four sections by folding it. It was difficult to mark because of the density and fuzziness of the bowl. I used a Sharpie and was able to make a slight mark, but some of it was just guessing. 

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Under the Sea fabric book

I finally got my little book together. As I had said before the embroideries were done on one long piece of linen and my plan was to make an accordian pleated book. It was labor intensive and I did not like the look at all. I didn't take a picture but this shows how the last six pages looked before I cut them apart.

So back to square one. I fused each page to Pelltex, a very stiff and sturdy material that I have used many times for fabric postcards.  I had a lot of it left over from postcard making. It is fusable on both sides.

I left a half inch border on each page where I punched holes and then laced with paper twine.

I used a zigzag stitch on my machine around all the edges.

I was very pleased with the way the pages lay flat when opened. The octopus was stitched with mostly chain stitch, some little lazy daisies, and lots of French knots.

The fish was cut from a piece of printed fabric, He was accented with chain stitch and straight stitch. 

I wanted to try some different techniques The page on the left was all beaded, a little fish in the coral with sea shells at the bottom. You really have to look hard to see the fish. Click on the picture to get a bigger view and he is easier to see.

The seahorses used straight stitch, nestting lazy daisies and chain stitch and a few beads.

On the left is a turtle cut from fabric and sitiched around the edges. It is not my favorite.

On the right is one of my favorites His body is covered with flat sequins and his head and fins are silver and gold lame. I did a little watercoloring on the background.

On the left is a pretty fish with her body colored with watercolor paints and then embroidered. I like her.

The star fish was embroiderd onto wool felt and then attached to the page with buttonhole stitch.

The left fish is all embroiderd, mostly with simple runing stitch, with buttonhole around the body and the tail and fin outlined with the outline stitch,

The jelly fish has a painted body with straight tendrils done with a backstitch. The wavy tendrils used siz stands of floss that were couched down with a single strand of floss. I painted a little water in the background with metallic paint.

The coral was stitched entirely with chain stitch. Labor intensive, but I like it.

And I had to have a Mermaid, just simple outline, fly stitch,,chain stitch , Frend knots and a few beads.

The back cover with a stamp that I use on my handmade cards.

Please click on any picture to see a bigger view and more details.

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.