dreads

This is how i am making the dreads for the monkey.
I have a bowl of hot soapy water, my roving pulled into strips, bubble wrap and a towel.
First i will lightly wet my palms of my hands and carefully pick up the roving and gently rub my palms of my hands over the roving backwards and forwards. I will do this all along the length of the roving. I will repeat this step rubbing harder each time until the fibers start to mat together.
onto the next step.

Having gotten the fibers now stabilized i am ready for some more vigorous felting to happen. I lay it onto some bubble wrap, bubble side up and lay the semi felted fiber on top. fold over the bubble wrap over the roving and roll the top of the bubble wrap backwards and forwards matting the fibers together. Let me warn you, this takes time! and you get a good work out on your arms in the process, What a bargain!

When it is done to your satisfaction, rinse it under cold water until soap is gone. squeeze out the water,
take it to a towel, fold the towel over the now made dread and press out the excess water. Put aside to dry naturally. This is a close up of the felted roving.



This is a close up of the roving before felting

Monkey Marionette

This is the head. I have pinned, tacked and now have to sew it on the machine. Making sure i have left a gap un sewn for the neck. I will then be turning it out the right way through the neck opening and stuffing it. I will then add some sculpting stitches to hold it all in place, more on that later.
The neck post will then be ladder stitched in place
This looks odd i know! It is however the back and front of body with the now sewn limbs turned right sides out and sandwiched between the two layers. I have the limbs poking out from the top of the body where the neck post will go and also for stuffing the body.
Pinned tacked and then sewn, turned right sides out. I also have put it onto some baking paper because i have found that this fabric is difficult to sew because it it a synthetic fur and is prone to sticking underfoot and does not run smoothly on the machine. The paper helps it to go through better.