fiber arts workshop

The fiber arts workshop I taught was held last Saturday. It was a lot of fun, and EXHAUSTING! Here are my students and their sewing machines.


I brought along a significant portion of my fiber stash and invited the ladies to use anything they wanted for their projects. They had fun choosing their own colorways and just playing with the different elements.

We learned several techniques, including making cords, working with solvy, hot fix angelina, layering, burning/distressing, and needlefelting by hand and with an embellisher. This is Donna getting with the needlefelting tool.

I suggested using their newly-learned techniques to either make a small bag or a piece of hanging art. This is the front of Ann's little bag, showing her needlefelting.

Donna made a larger bag with the help of the embellisher. You may remember that I retooled my old sewing machine to become an embellisher because I'm too cheap to spring for a "real" embellisher, although I must say it works really well.

This is Lizzie's piece. She was the youngest participant and kept things fresh and lively. I like her color choices, shapes, and composition here.

This is my version of the small bag we made. It's not quite finished (note the pins at the top of the bag where I have yet to stitch it closed) but it's a cute pattern that I modified from here. It has a gussetted bottom that makes it seem roomier.

Teaching this workshop was a very good experience for me. The class size (5 students) seemed about right to present all the techniques I wanted the participants to learn. It was a lot of stuff packed into the five hour time frame, but everything I wanted to do got done. All of the ladies really seemed to enjoy themselves and were able to work with materials and methods they had never seen or tried before. I was asked by a couple of the women if I would be teaching another workshop at some point, which made me feel good. And the answer to that question is YES!!

Believe it or not, after this wonderful but very tiring day, I went with my family on a hay ride and cookout at a friend's farm. But that's the post for tomorrow!

Hope you are all having a great week.