The Dodo Blog

I frequently get emails from felt makers asking me if they can purchase only the patterns for my baby booties. When I taught how to make slippers, I was often asked if I’d sell only the patterns for the slippers.

I opted for never offering the resist patterns, the reason being that I’m for teaching people to make their own stuff and not keeping them coming back for everything they need.

So, I’ve always wanted to show felt makers how they could make their own resist patterns. For everything they want to felt!

Why should you learn to make your own patterns?

You probably have the experience of looking in vain for a specific pattern and having to make do with what you find.

You may also have noticed that, even if you managed to get a template from someone online, the size may not be the one you need. So, if you don't know what to do about it, the template will be useless.

If you've always wanted to make your own slippers, shoes or boots, but were never sure how you could make them...

Today’s video is the second one from a short series about my system to design resists for wet felting.

Last week, we looked at how we can transfer the measurements from a 3D object to a flat resist. If you didn’t have the chance to watch that video, please go back and watch it now because it’s important to be able to understand this week’s topic.

So, after designing the basic pattern, deciding on which wool type to use, how thick to lay it out, on the layout and fulling methods, it’s now time to:

6. Make a sample

7. Determine the shrinkage rate

8. Increase the pattern

9. And calculate the amount of wool for the project

Watch the video for more on how to make the sample and determine the shrinkage rate.

When we have our shrinkage rate, we can increase our base pattern to make a resist in the right size to account for shrinkage.

And, finally, we calculate the amount of wool we will need to felt our vase cover.

When all of this is planned, it’s time to finally felt the piece,...

About two years ago, I taught a class called RESISTS MADE EASY – A PROVEN SYSTEM TO DESIGN RESISTS FOR WET FELTING.

It covered how to make resists for shoes, clothes, hats, bags, gloves and vessels in all sorts of shapes.

It was well received and fun to teach. But, next, I started focusing more on 3D felting and so, I haven't come back to this class since.

Lately, I’ve had people asking about it, so I’m considering teaching it again.

This time, my idea would be to make separate classes for each of the topics (shoes, clothes, hats and vessels), but to go into a bit more detail. For example, I’m thinking about covering things like the ideal fiber for each type of piece.

Before I redesign the classes, I’d like to see how much interest there is. So, if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, could you email me or send me a message on social media, answering these two questions?

• Which type of resists would you like to learn to make?
• Which specific questions do you have a
...

This is a question I know you’re asking yourself: Is the Baby Special Edition worth it?

That’s, of course, something only you can decide. But skimming through the class description will only give you a general idea. So, I’ve made a video to show you exactly what’s inside the “baby package”.

It’s divided into 4 parts:  

Part 1 includes the step-by-step video instructions, that walk you through all you need to know to felt your baby's jacket in 3 design variations and 3 sizes to keep up with your baby’s growth. You’ll get:

• 5 PDFs with the pattern in 3 sizes (0 to 3 months, 3 to 6 months and 6 to 9 months) and the 3 design variations
• PDF with the instructions on how to use the patterns
• PDF with introduction to the course
• PDF with video transcripts
• 12 downloadable videos 

In Part 2 you get the step-by-step video instructions showing you how to make a baby hat in 6 sizes that you can change in color and shape to create different designs. You’ll get:

• PDF with pattern in 6 si...

Today I’m bringing you something special, the Baby Special Edition.

Usually, you can only get these classes separately.

Now, for a limited time, I’m combining the Sweet Baby Jacket & Daisy Baby Hat with the Comfy Baby Booties & Tiny Baby Mittens in one package. In other words, you get 2 for the price of 1.

If you’re interested in felting baby items as gifts for family members, friends or to sell, this Baby Special Edition is for you.

Have you noticed the BABY classes are back?

Many of you have been asking to have the baby booties class separately. You’ve also showed interest in having it available “on demand”, which is understandable, since babies grow fast 😊

So, I’ve listened to your requests and created two separate classes: “Comfy Baby Booties & Tiny Baby Mittens” and “Sweet Baby Jacket & Daisy baby Hat”. They’re already available and can be purchased at any time.

They’re now in a DIY version, and the videos and PDFs are downloadable. Just click on the images below to be taken to the course information.

Whether you’re planning to enroll in the class or not, here’s some information that may be useful for you.

As I reopened the baby courses to enrolment, it was brought to my attention that some of the designs are not compliant with the safety standards of many countries. I was very grateful for these contacts, since this is something I was previously unaware of.

I decided to do some internet research to un...

If you’ve been in my felting world for some time, you’ve heard me talking about this book for sure. It’s one of my absolute favorites in my collection.

If you’ve just recently discovered my blog, and you’re as obsessed about felting books as I am, there’s still time to add it to your Christmas presents wish list :)

I’m talking about “How I Felt”, a book about the work of the late Christine Birkle.

There are many felt makers I admire. But after over 20 years of looking at other artists’ work, Christine Birkle is still number one for me.

She founded the label HUT UP in Berlin in the 90s and was an absolute pioneer of modern wet felting. She has created many of the designs that inspired much of what is currently around in our field.

I was extremely lucky to have come across her work in Berlin in the early 2000s and have spent many hours admiring her pieces live in her shop in Berlin.

I’ve always been fascinated by Christine’s use of color and transparency, and the way she ma...

"Filzen: Alte Tradition, Modernes Handwerk" (German version)

"Felt: New Directions for an Ancient Craft" (English version)

by Gunilla Paetau Sjöberg

This might be the best book about wet felting I have. And I do have many 😊

It’s over 20 years old, it doesn’t have amazing photos and it has a lot of text. So, it might not be the first book to grab your attention when you look at my bookshelf.

I have it in German, but there’s also an English version.

So then, what makes it so special?

I think it’s the most complete wet felting book I’ve ever seen. I could call it a felting encyclopedia.

Let’s have a look inside, so that you can see what I mean.

It starts with an incredibly complete History of felt and it covers different felting traditions found in Europe and Asia: from hat making in Hungary and shepherd coats in Turkey, to the felt masks worn by the Vikings, and socks and shoes made in Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

It then dives into felting techniques from other cultures: ...

Felt your own wool slippers without having to rely on the scattered information from the Internet any more. Here’s a workshop that’ll give you the step-by-step instructions, with all the details you need to wet felt adult slippers.

Sound good?

I’ve had several requests to create a workshop on how to wet felt slippers for adults. Of course the possibilities are endless, be it in terms of how you shape the felt shoes or how you decorate them.

So, I gave it some thought, before I decided to produce a first workshop about slippers, because I wanted to give you the biggest benefit possible. I wanted to create a workshop that could give you the basics, so that you can develop your own creations from here.

And I ended up going back to the model I used to make and sell years ago. There are a couple of reasons for that:

• They are colorful (at least, I make them colorful 😊)
• They can be worn by both men and women
• The decoration I suggest is simple, so they’re easy to customize
• There’s no...