Doing things myself has always been my style. Salvaging wool skirts and sweaters and turning them into felt for wool applique is my latest passion.
Like everyone who does laundry, I've made the mistake of washing a wool garment, and shrunk it beyond wearing. But that's all that felting is: washing wool in hot water with detergent, and agitating it. That process mats the wool fibers together, and shrinks it so the grain of the fiber closes up. This makes wool cloth that won't fray, so you can use it for appliqued projects.
Wool applique has become so popular, most quilt shops sell pieces of wool now, and the prices have gone through the roof. So why spend $4 for a small piece of felted wool, when I can shop the thrift stores and buy an entire wool skirt or sweater for the same amount?
So today I made the rounds, and came home with a four skirts, including a black European-made skirt (which will be really cute with boots, so I'm saving it), and a Scotland-made tartan skirt in the Stewart Royal pattern. I may keep this one, too... it's just so darned cute.
Rainy days and wool... they just seem to go together, don't they?
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