At Britex Fabrics we get many fabric requests, from staid grey flannel, to wacky Burning Man blue fur, to romantic Chantilly lace. Today, someone asked us for fabric with eyeballs on it, which started a Britex mad quest for optically themed fabric. In the process, we stumbled across this nifty detailed tutorial from Ohioan Jen for an eyeball pincushion. Made with felt, floss, and pins (available at Britex), this might be the perfect Halloween trinket for your favorite seamstress or craftster!

It isn’t too early to get started making holiday decorations, and Abby from the craft blog, WhileSheNaps made this darling tutorial and pattern for wee felt birds. This would make a wonderful group project – assemble a stack of felt scraps, some tea and cakes, and a gaggle of pals for an afternoon of fun. Make them in a rainbow of chipper colors and let them take flight from one end of your home to the other!

Felt-maker Bonita from Feltilicious presents a marvelous video on hand-crafting felt from wool roving. This amazing painstaking process involves multiple pressings, and ends with shocking the fledgling felt with hot water, then cold water, then lastly by beating it. This would be a terrific Sunday afternoon group craft project. FYI: You can find wool roving on Britex Fabrics’ 3rd floor.

The deviously delicious folks from Homelife.com.au bring us this free pattern and tutorial on making an über cute tea cozy in the shape of a chunky squirrel. We want to make this forest creature in cheerful red or robust fuchsia wool felt! Imagine tea time with this sweet critter full of steaming Earl Grey tea, perched next to a china plate of nutmeg maple butter cookies. This cozy should fit most one- to three-cup teapots. Hint: This would make a fantabulous holiday gift, with a bag of fragrant tea and tin of home-baked cookies.

Named after Yorick, the deceased court jester whose skull is exhumed by the gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, this very dapper felted skull scarf was designed by the talented Kate Kuckro of Knitty.com. It is straightforward; one knits across each skull opening and then cuts out the yarns crisscrossing the eyes and nose without having to worry about anything unraveling. We love it in white, but imagine it would also look marvelous in a subtle bone-colored yarn.
“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now?” (Hamlet, V.i)

The Art of Manliness and Du Jour believe that it is time to bring back the daily boutonnière for suit lapels, and we agree. Worn above your heart, your choice of flower can either convey a secretive message, or it can handsomely accent your attire. One can use fresh flowers, or knit hand-made ones such as these felted flowers. All you need is a suit with a lapel buttonhole. If the buttonhole is unopened, slit it open carefully with a blade and trim any loose threads. Attach the flower by carefully threading the stem through the buttonhole, and fastening it with a tiny safety pin on the lapel underside. A more debonair method is to sew a silk loop one to two inches underneath the lapel button hole to balance the flower’s stem.