In honor of this Valentine’s Day, we wanted to share one of Sharon’s biggest labors of love, which just happens to be a symbol of her love. Back in October of 2011, Sharon and her husband Mark celebrated their devotion with a vow renewal ceremony. Sharon, being Sharon, made a felted wedding dress and today we’d like to share it with you.
Naturally, the result was a stunning dress that looks like it came from a forgotten era of hand crafted textiles.
“When I decided to make a felted wedding dress for my husband’s and my vow renewal, I wanted to make it one-of-a-kind. I had some beautiful pieces of antique lace from my grandmother’s family and really wanted to use it,” Sharon writes.
“There is something very unique about felting wool on batiste or voile. It makes it cozy and soft, perfect for my October date. I love the creative freedom of felting, but you can’t always get the detail you need as in cuffs and fitting the waist. The sleeves present another problem: you really can’t do a set-in sleeve properly in felt.”
“I am a seamstress first, and love to combine my sewing ability with my felting. It is very satisfying. When my sister Carin taught me to felt and I realized I could design my own fabric, that made it all the more alluring. With my fifty years of sewing experience, not much intimidates me. I love the challenge and problem solving felting and sewing presents me.”
However, it’s important to note that those fifty years of experience that Sharon has are not required to meld the worlds of sewing and felting. Beginners of both fields can experiment and create gorgeous pieces. Do you need your felted garment to be more fitted? More structured? Do you want a custom design on your sewn garment or display piece? Do you want to incorporate design features that may have seemed impossible when you were only looking at one creation method? Then you can try to incorporate both arts!
Felting and sewing were made to go together. They lend themselves to each other and produce stunning and truly unique results (we’ve never seen another felted wedding dress like this one!). Though the idea may seem intimidating, it’s really worth a dabble. Your first project doesn’t need to be a gown for one of the most special days of your life, but it’s highly likely that it will be something unique and well worth the effort.
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