Grey Orange Handmade Felt Shawl with Shibori Details Reversible

Description

I felt inspired to create this shawl by the magma flows and rich veins of minerals encased in rock as though still flowing incredibly slowly. Made from merino wool and viscose fibres, orange to mustard on one side with gold viscose “veins” which run the entire length, and mineral greys on the other side. This is quite a thick and heavy, warm shawl.
Shibori is a process used for dyeing but also in feltmaking where the felt is stitched into pleats and then felted so that the shape becomes part of the fabric. The top of the pleat is then cut and either opened out to display the orange/mustard colouring or left as a narrow band of colour. I have used a lot of lovely viscose fibres on the grey side which give a gorgeous sheen to the surface.

Fabric Care: it is best to wash this shawl by hand if you can, or use the handwash setting on your machine with nothing else in it. The process of making felt involves warm water, soap and agitation. This is exactly what your washing machine does. There is a risk of further shrinkage if you agitate it further in hot soapy water. Using natural soap also helps it to keep its lustre and drape.
It can be spun to extract most of the water, or rolled in a towel and pressed (stand on it or ask the kids to jump up and down on it!) before hanging somewhere warm to dry completely. Finish off with a gentle steam iron to restore its shape and lustre.

My process: I create pieces inspired by my local environment and love to play with combining colours. I choose the silk fabric and complementary wool colours first based on my inspiration. In the process of felting, the wool fibres penetrate the silk fabric and hold it in place, so that it softly ruches and gathers as the wool fibres shrink and mesh together. Using this process I can also add yarns and fabrics that wouldn’t normally be included in felt making between the silk and wool layers – yarns, cotton jersey, lace – and this also shrinks and ruches to add further textures. The whole process takes several hours and a whole lot of energy to agitate the wool fibres until they mesh together as a piece of fabric.  It has a lovely drape and feels soft against the skin.