Thursday, September 1, 2011

Felt Collar with Ruffle Bouquet

Over these couple of days, I been experimenting a lot with felt, seeing that I'm piling up so much of felt in my stash.  After browsing online for ideas, I decided to try my own version of a felt collar in deep cyan, lined with champagne colored tulle.  I made a matching felt flower brooch to hold the felt collar in place.
I cut 2 pieces of about 1m length of felt, in tapered width of 15cm at the widest, to 11cm at the narrowest.
After stitching both the 15cm wide ends together in zig-zag stitch, I trimmed off the extra fabric (well, I did not exactly measure before cutting up the pieces).
I sewed on a 2m length grosgrain ribbon to middle of the felt, lengthwise.
After that, I stretched the felt fabric to get some ruffly edges.  I found it easier to stretch when pulled along the bias.
It can get quite thin and almost see-through, so be careful not to overstretch.  So I completed one side, and here it is, compared to the 'un-stretched' side.  I repeated the same for all sides.
I added the tulle on the reverse side.
Now, for the garnishing ... I did the 'ruffled bouquet' with randomly trimmed petals along the edge.
With the clouded edges, the bouquet appeared to have more petals.
I wrapped the felt collar around the neck, with the ruffled tulle inside.  I turned the felt edges down to expose more of the tulle and pinned the felt brooch to hold the end of the collar in place.
With the collar turned up at the back, it exposed the black grosgrain ribbon with the contrasting stitching.
This collar can be worn with the tulle on the outside, too.  And with the felt collar flipped outward, the tulle is almost sandwiched in between the felt, ...
... leaving more of the felt exposed.  I styled it with the ends hanging out.
The 2 ways of wearing it ... or more, I guess, depending on how you style it.

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