Wearables

(Click here to see currently available wearables)

The work you see here starts with the canvas of an existing piece of clothing: perhaps a hat, a vest, or a jacket. Each piece comes with its own story which I am sometimes blessed enough to know from the previous owner; often I can only guess. Each piece finds its way to me--perhaps through a friend cleaning out her closet or the ongoing donations from my Quaker Meeting.

The remaining items come from thrift stores and tag sales. Each calls to me in its own way--sometimes because of color or texture--often because the very way it hangs or sits on the shelf suggests something to me about its previous owner. As I prepare a piece to be felted, I discover more about it: a nametag, or a custom label from a store long gone from our current box-store landscape. As I inspect each piece to be sure it is durable, and listen for the design that is suggesting itself to me, I enjoy imagining its history and discovering a way to give it new life.

The process of creating these pieces is time-consuming. I thoroughly inspect each item to be sure it will withstand years of use. I remove faded accessories (and the adhesives that kept them attached), or I replace linings and buttons that have become too worn for my standards. By this point a suitable design has usually become clear in my head, and I am ready to begin selecting my colors and sketching the design on to the clothing.

Initially, I loosely needlefelt the design on to the piece. I use one standard size or large gauge needle, depending on the density of the material I am working on. This way I can make changes without damaging the fabric underneath. As the pattern makes itself clear, I use a variety of needles and needle tools to firmly affix the design and add the tiny details that give it life, often passing over the same area of a design as many as ten times. The majority of the needlefelting I do on these pieces is with a single needle. I find it affords me the most control and achieves the finest results. Most are then finished with a gentle wet-polish to make them even more durable.

So while each piece has its humble beginnings, it receives quite a bit of time under my fingers to be given this new life.

If you are drawn to a particular design, but find that the article of clothing is not the size you were seeking, I can work a similar design on to another piece--perhaps one from your own closet. Contact me for details.