The Inspiration Behind the Wooly Flourishes

"Can you make a modern wool project?"

This was the question that was asked by Julianne, the owner of my local shop Cary Quilting Company. She wanted something new with wool for her booth at QuiltCon. I am not a modern quilter and wool applique tends to be very traditional, but challenge accepted. I asked my quilt bee what they thought modern wool would look like and Laura asked, "Can wool be washed like regular clothing?" When I said absolutely, because wool is pre-shrunk in the felting process, she came up with a brilliant idea.

"What if you made patches?"

And the Wooly Flourish idea began. 

My bee mates REALLY wanted a Sasquatch, so we came up with four cryptids: Sasquatch, Yeti, Loch Ness Monster, and Moth Man.

When I presented them to Julianne, she loved them and said she would carry them if I made a possum. So we came up with the trash collectors: raccoon, opossum, skunk, and garbage can.

The original idea is for them to be patches that can be used on clothing and for visible mending. I wanted to create kits that had eveything so you to just grab it and embellish or patch your favorite clothing item. The kits include precut wool pieces, threads, and a needle.  

I worked with Wonderfil to create the kits and their wools and threads were the perfect tools for the flourishes. Samantha is the amazing person that helped me create this kits and her guidance was absolutely invaluable.

They are really fun to put directly on your clothes like this Sasquatch that is actually covering up a hole in my pants.

You can also sew them onto pieces of fabric first and then sew the fabric pieces onto the clothes like I did with this jacket. It creates a fun patchy look, and is a bit easier to sew through cotton than denim.

Then I realized that they can be used for any type of flourishing, not just clothes. I included a back for each project in the kit (except Nessie because her neck and tail are too fragile) so that they can be turned into ornaments, pins, or even barrettes like this one with Moth Man.

You can also use the back piece on it's own if you use the front pieces as a patch. I actually made the back of a raccoon with the back raccoon piece and turned it into a pin. I put the flourish piece on a piece of blue felt so I could really go crazy with the furry stitches.

Flourish means a decorative or finishing detail and that perfectly defines the joyful purpose of these little critters. I also gave them all generic names because every flourish has it's own personality and I wanted you to be able to name your critter with whatever name speaks to you as you make it.

Me and Julianne with the flourishes at QuiltCon

They are really easy to make. The main stitch you need is the Whipstitch and I show you how to do it along with several other stitches on my YouTube Channel.

Whipstich Tutorial:

The purpose of the Wooly Flourishes is to add some joy and whimsy to your ordinary life. I hope they inspire you to make something beautiful.