Felty time!

With the first Re-enactment of the season very close it was time to make some felty shoes for the children to wear

Here are Olivers - yes the red give it away. The last time that I made these type of shoes I worn most of the skin away from my palms, so I used rubber gloves this time.

The main fleece was Jacobs, carded on the drumcarder, but still raw. The addition of lots of soap and water cleaned the fleece bringing it up pure white.

These are Lily's and so cute & small.

Aaron will make leather bottoms so that their feet stay nice and dry and keep them from wearing out too quickly. These were so quick & easy to make that I'll be able to make new ones as their feet grow.

She was so good while I modelled the to her feet.

I got carried away and made some more felty balls - you can never have too many!

The large white & black is Jacobs fleece done in the washing machine. I just stuffed clean fleece into one of the nylon bags that you put the washing tablets in and put it in with towels on a 60 degree wash - saves my hands



Here is gourd to keep the balls in. Oliver & Lily love to throw them in. I used a circular piece of plastic about the size of a small dinner plate. Once the fleece had felted I cut a small slit and removed the plastic, then used my fist to shape the gourd as I fulled it further.

Again I used Jacobs White & Black, which gives a 'fluffy' felt.