Yesterday evening I felt as if I had finally lost the plot. I have so many things that I need to be doing as well as so many things that I should be doing but my brain just went into melt down and I didn’t seem able to get anything accomplished! Finally and with a sense of relief, I realised what the problem was. Chrisse has the most amazing wearable nuno projects to share with everyone in our next book (just wait until you see some of her clever designs!) and I had got stuck in a great big rut since Christmas feeling that I needed to felt some large, stylish garments too. With my impatient temperment and total lack of sewing skills I am never going to be able to draft patterns like Chrissie and the miriad of fantastic seamstresses out there, why was I trying to be someone that I’m not??? The new designs that I was working on have been floating around in my head for well over a year and are all based on simple shapes and rectangles, easy peasy in my mind but not easy peasy to bring to fruition as things have turned out. My eureka moment came last night when I realised that I had been nuno felting these new wearable designs like mad over the last few weeks but just wasn’t enjoying myself, it was way too stressful and I couldn’t concentrate properly or relax and just settle in to the process. Having fun and enjoying my felting is what it is all about for me. I love sharing tips and techniques when I teach and to not enjoy my work was a new experience for me, as a result I have decided to go back to basics and write about the sort of nuno felting I most love to create myself! I’m leaving the larger garments to others at the moment but I have decided to take lessons this year and get to grips with pattern drafting and using my sewing machine to the best of my ability too!!! Taking the amazing workshop with Lisa Klakulak last summer inspired me to stitch into my felt and lose my greatest fear of sewing so I think that with a bit of determination there should be no reason I can’t master a few really basic patterns. From my perspective there will be plenty of new projects and ideas in the book that I haven’t written about before and loads of helpful tips about the various tools I find that make life easier. As with ‘From Felt to Friendship’ the new book is about our experiences nuno felting, where we get our inspiration from, what we find works and what we find doesn’t. I hope that it will give people an insight into how we work as well as being inspirational and fun, I know anyway that I can’t wait to try out some of Chrissie’s ideas and projects for myself!!!
Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles 
Your nuno experience is akin to my “knitting” experience: because I’ve learned how to spin improvisational “art yarn” to embed and work into my felt, I’ve interacted with some really fine knitters and spinners. If I tried to spin the sort of even yarns they spin, in abundance, I would spin myself into misery: it’s not where my heart is. If my life depended on knitting a neat, complex sweater, it would be time to get my affairs in order because no amount of effort would lead me to success in following a complicated pattern. But I can felt things that make people happy, and keep them warm, and bring creativity into their lives.
We each need to do the work that only WE can bring to light!
Such a hard lesson…learning to work with your strengths while allowing yourself room to grow and challenge yourself . It’s not easy finding the balance but misery should be a big red flashing light to slow down . It’s taken me a long time to stop trying to make realistic animal needle felt and play to my own strengths of imaginary critters . I still would love to make real look animals but have been trying to appreciate what comes naturally to me rather then just envy what comes more naturally to others .
Good morning,
Glad that you came to the conclusion that you arrived at…the other does sound a bit crazy-making….Would have been for me, too;-) Chrissie will have plenty of time to show us how to create patterns and sew up a storm when we’re together in April. Do you think a couple of hours should be enough time to have us stitching up new wardrobes for ourselves? ;-)))
Will be fantastic to see your new book with the collaboration of both of your ideas and creations. When will it be ready for order?
Big hugs to you,
Dawn
Yes,I really think all artists get to the point where you are Nicola. We each have our own nitch in the world of creativity and when it boils down to it, we need to work with our own creative strengths…….and build our own creativity on that, to be happy. Little things happen along the way, like your stitching class with Lisa…that just gave you more options with your creative ideas. JUST LET IT HAPPEN!!!
Yes, I too am looking forward to your new book. How soon will it be out?
Have. Good day!
Carole