Simply Felt: 20 Easy and Elegant Designs in Wool

by Margaret Docherty, Jayne Emerson

The fundamentals of felting including choosing fibers and colors, making flat felt and boiling felt, and stitching felt are demonstrated in 20 beautiful projects in a range of contemporary colors in this beginner's guide. Projects include a cloche hat, a child's jacket, slippers, delicate scarves, square and inlayed throw pillows, and a long-lasting rug. Each project is presented with simple step-by-step instructions, illustrations, and alternative samples and suggestions that help felters to create their own designs. Felters can bring this highly handcrafted style into their wardrobes and home decor with these simple and beautiful pieces.

Genres: Crafts, Art, Sewing, Knitting

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Kathi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I was expecting this to be wet felting. It was too some degree, but not quite. Many of the projects involved sewing. Maybe it’s just me, and I’m 64 years old, but I don’t see too many people wanting to make a tea cozy or hot water bottle cover. Most frustrating was the photos were only snippets of a design, they did not show a complete item. Instructions lacked significantly, doe example; the vessels on the cover had 2 pages and not enough instructions for a person to know what to do. I know how to make vessels and I can say, this would not teach me anything if I was trying for the first time.

[Ita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book for beginners. The projects are simple. There are lots of good pictures to show you what to do and how to do it.

Good quality paper.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

The instructions need better editing, and sometimes miss steps or lack clarity. Some of the photos are too close up, so it is hard to get an idea what the project really looks like. There is no glossary, which beginners might need.
The book is pretty, and somewhat helpful, and is fine to browse for inspiration, but it is not the best stand-alone guide.

[Tisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I was expecting this to be about knitting an item and then felting it rather than creating felt and using it for things. It's unfortunately not something I am interested in at the moment.