Felt It! Stitch It! Fabulous!: Creative Wearables from Flea Market Finds

This is the greatest book. I would highly recommend it to whomever wants an easy way to make felted items. Very easy to follow. Great ideas!!

Very clever ideas for using old wool garments that are felted in the washing machine. The projects are upscale style wise and not hokey or crafty. The photos are beautiful. I was inspired by what I read and saw here. I would certainly reccomend this book for anyone interested in this process.

Reading and enjoying the photos of finished projects has inspired me to make use of my wool sweaters that are outdated, moth damaged, and shrunk when mixed accidentally with normal laundry. I enjoy recycling old into new, useful items. With the holidays fast approaching, there are many great ideas for gifts.

For a couple of years, I've been making felted articles from thrift store sweaters, based on limited information available in the knitting mags. Finally, a book on this unlimited subject has been published, providing much needed guidance and creative inspiration. Felt It starts with the basics, where to find inexpensive feltable garments and then how to shrink them (the felting process). Actually cutting into one of these sweaters is daunting, but the section on cutting and piecing calms that apprehension. With easy to follow instructions and patterns for 39 projects, ranging from delicate flowers to Christmas stockings to sturdy backpacks, this book can keep the felter busy for months if not longer. A section on needlefelting (by hand and by sewing machine) is included. Felt It! Stitch It! is a Fabulous! resource.

Here is a review of my new book from Booklist. I am so thrilled that they were so pleased with it and I hope you will be also! Bieber, Katheryn Tidwell. Felt It! Stitch It! Fabulous! Creative Wearables from Flea Market Finds. May 2007. 128p. illus. index. Sterling/Lark/Chapelle, $24.95 (1-60059-067-5). 746. This is not a knitting book, although it looks like one. Using a technique she calls "fast felting," the author turns old, discarded sweaters found at flea markets, thrift stores, or even the back of the closet into clothes and accessories that look handmade. And at first glance, you would think this was just another felted knitting book. The projects are contemporary, creative, and stylish. The process--shrinking old sweaters to create felted materials--saves both time and money, for quick results. Bieber covers every aspect of the process, from finding appropriate feltable garments to arranging the pattern pieces to maximize the details of the felted materials. The author assumes some basic sewing experience, but the projects can be completed using either a sewing machine or by hand. Most helpful are the sections on finding the correct sweater and photographs illustrating the before and after of different types of knits so readers can see what kind of results to expect. The projects have strong appeal to knitters and sewers as well as the reuse, recycle, and repurpose craft movement. --Jennifer Palmer You may also like to check out my book on ribbonwork and remember to create a beautiful day! Kat The Portable Crafter: Ribbonwork (Portable Crafter)