Are you curious about felting with lace? We were too! We recently received an exciting order of garment fabrics from one of our favorite distributors and included in the box were several types of lace. If you follow us on Instagram (@thetinthimble), you may have heard us mention this already.
The pink and red are 80% cotton, 20% spandex. And the black/grey is a stretch lace. You can view our current selection of lace available in our Etsy shop HERE.
We all know lace is wonderful for apparel sewing, and we knew that incorporating small bits of lace into projects is no biggie, but Sharon was excited to see if she could felt large pieces of lace to create a garment. To start, she cut small samples of all three, chose contrasting colors of roving and began experimenting. She kept track of how much the lace shrunk as it felted and noted how well the wool adhered to the lace.
All three worked great, but she was especially pleased with the black and grey stretch lace.
Here’s a shot of the lace on Sharon’s wood table so you can see how open the weave it. It’s beautiful!
Here’s a close up after she felted it onto blue roving….and below is the ADORABLE dress she created after experimenting!
Sharon would be happy to share her methods for felting with lace and creating this dress. If you’re interested in learning how to make your own dress like this comment below and let us know or call us at 916-652-2134 so we can give you a call when she’s chosen a date.
hi,
I am trying to figure out how to felt with lace. Do I build the roving up after
placing the lace on the bubble wrap first? Can I felt over parts of the lace?
I am in a class, but no class for two weeks – and what you made is exactly what
I am supposed to do – except of course, my design.
Id love it if you could help me.
thank you
Hello Laurel,
Sharon laid her wool out first and then placed the lace on top. The bubble wrap goes on the very bottom. She felted over all of the lace, with great results! I hope this helps. Happy felting! Oh, and which class are you taking?
Hey,
I am working on a project for one of my classes, and am looking to felt alpaca fiber to laces. Do you have a tutorial or instructions on how you felted your lace to make your shirt?
Thank you!
Hello Tamara. Firstly, you’ll want to mix that alpaca fiber with some merino to ensure good felting.If you’re adding lace pieces on top of the roving, you’ll want to be sure to put a very thin ‘veil’ of fibers over the top of the lace to make sure they become adhered during felting. Other than that, the process is very similar to regular nuno felting! I hope that’s helpful. Thanks for the comment!
Hello,
This dress is so pretty! I found some awesome lace garments at Goodwill. One dress is made from a cotton black crocheted flower design. Another was a party dress with a fabulous overlay of black lace with shimmering accents. I can’t wait to incorporate them in projects/garments some day. I hope they will felt. Is it best to use 19.5 Merino as the base?
Thank you,
Andrea
Hello Andrea,
What a great find! 19.5 through 21 micron merino will be just fine. Happy felting!
I had the very same curious thought when at my local fabric store. I am excited to try something to learn the technique. So glad I found your blog that answered my “what if?” question.
Great, thank you for reading and for letting us know!