One of my favorite crafting materials to work with is up-cycled felted wool sweaters. They're like a colorful blank canvas, just waiting for some re-creation work. Not to mention, they are fuzzy and soft.
Start out with a treasure hunt at your local thrift store. Our local Salvation Army has 1/2 price clothing days once a week, so that is my best time to shop. Buy the biggest 100% wool sweaters you can find. The men's section is usually not as crowded as the ladies, so head there first. They don't have to be in perfect shape, or even name-brand, because you're going to cut these babies up eventually.
The key here is 100% wool for the felting process to work. Throw your sweaters into the washing machine on a hot cycle with detergent and as much agitation in the cycle as possible. These are your components to a successful felting process. Once washed, throw them into the dryer, again with the hottest temperature possible. Check and empty your lint several times. I don't like to throw anything away, so I'm sure there is a DIY craft for clean wool lint. (Fire starters, probably?)
Once your sweaters have been felted, they will be noticeably smaller. This is because the fibers have become denser and tighter. They will not fray when cut, making felted wool a nice material to work with. Now for some DIY project ideas just in time for the holidays.
The easiest project is a felted sweater pillow. All you need are basic sewing skills for this. Turn your sweater inside out and pin your layers together. Decide on the size and shape of your finished design. I usually lay my sweaters on a cutting board to use the lines to help me cut straight. Then, straight stitch all around, leaving a small opening for stuffing. Fill with polyester fiberfill and hand stitch shut.
For added interest, consider making some beautiful felted wool flowers. They are easy to make following this tutorial. Beautiful leaves can be made by cutting a leaf shape around a sweater seam, using the seam as your leaf veins. If you are adding flowers or buttons to your pillow, it is easier to sew them on before the pillow is sewn together. Just a hint. Not that I did or did not forget that hint while sewing my pillows. :)
I love how interesting buttons can look on a pillow. I just cut 2 circles of felted wool and sewed vintage wood buttons on the top of the pile. Now they kind of resemble little flowers on the pillow.
Another pillow idea is to find a nice button up sweater. This one is turned inside out, sewn all around, then undo the buttons to slip in a pillow form. So easy! All the hard work is already done for you.
And here it is finished and all buttoned up.
Now that the largest part of the sweater has transformed into a pillow, what do you do with the arms and other smaller pieces? Whatever you do, DO NOT throw anything away. Check back in my next post for several more projects to use up all that gorgeous wool.
Did you miss last year's felted wool DIY post? Check it out for more great ideas.
Did you miss last year's felted wool DIY post? Check it out for more great ideas.
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