What a long journey to produce these two eBooks. What started out to be a quick, simple and easy eBook turned out to be a much bigger task than I could imagined. I had 22 pages of text and several photos, but that was not enough. It dawned on me that feltmakers were not necessarily garment makers! This is why the eBooks became two. The book grew and grew and grew until I had to divide it into two books.
I started with the idea to write an eBook to explain how to make a template, pattern and resist for a felt garment. I had seem many skilled feltmakers struggle. They had great surface design ideas and feltmaking skills, but the end product was not the best fitting of garment. So were very big and baggie, others too long, while others were very tight. Some placed embellishment over areas that were less than flattering.
I learned many many years ago how to make custom garments using a flat pattern making method. I had been making felt for 15 years. I started applying the knowledge of flat pattern making to felt garment making. While felt is a different textile than most it has many advantages. Finished edges are a breeze in hand crafted felt. Steaming to help shrink and shape a garment is unmatched.
Making seamless and sleeveless garments do present a few technical considerations. The greatest being shrinkage. For the most part feltmakers do not know their shrinkage they simply guess. Changing the surface embellishments, techniques and wool fibers affect shrinkage.
In the two eBooks I detail how to measure a human body and how to translate those into a template. I discuss shrinkage as related to surface design. I show (with photography) how to create a seamless garment. The details are clear and concise. Included are instructions for nuno felting with silk chiffon or silk paj. I have included very detailed instructions about how to make the correct calculation and enter into a worksheet. Between these two eBooks it is like attending a personal workshop in your home studio.
In the end I think I have produced two very detailed books that not only include feltmaking information, I have explained a lot of dressmaking skills.
While the two books are really the basics, many designs can be made. I do plan to write advance design in the coming months, but I want to take the time and work on some projects for myself. I will keep you updated with those projects here!
https://www.KathyHaysDesigns.com
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