Felt Up

When I was a kid a main stay of the craft table at any after school activity, summer camp or birthday party – along with Popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners – was a pile of A4 (or in my case US letter) sheets of colorful felt. I would enthusiastically hack away at it with the dull plastic scissors creating fluffy edged shapes that I would somehow combine with the pipe cleaners and Popsicle sticks into a masterpiece my mother was obliged to display prominently in our house.

As I grew up and my creative endeavors expanded beyond the craft table, I started to see felt as the ‘carnation of fabrics’ – cheap and lowbrow – something that should remain with the pipe cleaners and Popsicle sticks. I didn’t even really consider it actually, it was off my radar when it came to ‘real’ design.

Maybe it’s some sort of Freudian longing for childhood or a desperate last hoorah as I glide towards 40 (I have a couple years to go yet but I can see it on the horizon!), but let me tell you – I am feeling the felt these days.

Felt has been making a come back for some years now. I am not late to this band wagon – I have been obsessed since Warwick Fabrics came out with their ‘Augustus’ range of to die for felts in a rainbow of lust worthy colours – It’s just that my appreciation of it has now reached epic and noteworthy proportions, hence my need to shout my undying love for this versatile material from my Collingwood rooftop, or in this case, my laptop.

The thing I love about felt is that it is often beautifully marbleized, and has a really fantastic tactile texture that is unique to the material. It’s not cheep either as a matter of fact  – and because of that Warwick Fabrics have come out with a low budget sort of faux felt called ‘Dolly’ – but it’s just not the same, and is more reminiscent of my childhood craft felt than the sexy pure wool felts that have warmed my heart.

I have a thing about textures and contrast materials, and there is just something really luscious about the way felt mixes with other elements – it’s the UN of fabrics – it plays nice with all things. A felt sofa with contrast silk piping? Yes please! Felt curtains skimming across a marble floor – give me more! A felt upholstered bedhead framed in rich timber – bring it on.

Felt has evolved far beyond its years. It is really a sumptuous and sophisticated material – quite the opposite of the felt of my childhood. You could say, as a matter of fact, that felt and I have both grown up, we have both evolved and come a long way. We were both once young and unpolished, but we have grown – learned from our past experiences, polished our rough edges and learned how to mix well with others.

See above my ‘poor mans’ felt bead head that I am actually quite proud of. It is simply 2 sheets of felt acoustic pin board from Bunnings attached to the wall (http://www.bunnings.com.au/800-x-600-x-9mm-acoustic-pinboard_p0510007). It has a all the appeal of the pricy stuff for a the cost of a martini and a pack of cigarettes (and a better use of your money to boot!).