June 21, 2007

Felt is always in style the third.

Here's an example of one way felted knits (sweaters) can be manipulated. I discovered this when I designed the costumes for a production of The Chronicles of Narnia. What fun! By the way; the thrift store is a costumer's heaven on earth.


In the book Second Time Cool - the Art of Chopping up a Sweater some recycled or restyled clothing is shown for inspiration. Japanese designer Jun Takahashi's ensemble includes footwear that looks just like birds' feet. Although the feet appear to be constructed of leather, I thought wool would work, so I made clawed feet for the two woodland birds in the play. I went from there; using wool for all of the character's footwear with the exception of Tumnus (who wore painted wooden clogs so he could make hoof-sounds).

below: birds' foot in progress

For the elf & troll characters I created footwear with pointed & curled toes. The elf wore red shoes with gold buttons, the Troll wore a brown calf - length boot. I used more felted wool for the Unicorn's horn, Tumnus' scarf, & the Troll's cap. Wool felt is so versatile; it takes dye well & can be embellished in any number of ways. Holes can be poked in it without concern about raveling. I can think of no other fabric so useful in creating dimensional effects while retaining movement (stretch).

8 comments:

Sadie Lou said...

You are a crafter of all trades and I am proud to be in your circle.
:)
I love that story about how you made those costumes.

Anonymous said...

I'm so impressed girl! How did you make it so they would curl and not just stay pointed? Did that book give you hints? See, this is where I have to have patterns or at least something to look at. Love the clawed feet.

Fun is always in style. said...

sl: :) thx squared. That project was one of the funnest things I've ever worked on.

tracie: you may not have made elf shoes, but you've made a wedding dress & a sloper... I cut the top smaller than the bottom - stretched the top to ease in the extra fabric on the bottom - poof! toe curls up.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! What fun it must have been to do this work. I just love the elf shoes........ perfect prportions.

Fun is always in style. said...

Thanks Helle - it was lots of fun figuring out how to create all of those characters + I was happy with the outcome - it all worked pretty well. No unhappy surprises.

Anonymous said...

Your booties look great and I bet they feel really good too. You so knock me out.

Fun is always in style. said...

thx jenny :)

Philip@ReformedVoices said...

those are awesome, very unique!