Southern Felters' History
Pauline Whitmore was a member of the Spinners and Weavers Guild in Christchurch in the 1970s. In 1979 she met Brita Tibel, a felt maker from Scandinavia. Brita and her family were living in Lincoln, just outside Christchurch, for the year. Pauline and her family also lived in Lincoln and Pauline saw Brita’s children had felted slippers. Pauline was delighted to discover Brita wanted to learn to spin and they were able to trade skills with Brita teaching Pauline to felt and Pauline teaching Brita to spin. The kitchen bench became Pauline’s workshop.
Pauline showed her new skill to her old friends from the Guild, Isla Clark and Vivienne Johnson. They asked Brita to attend a Guild meeting at the Arts Centre one evening and demonstrate felting. The group took to their new craft with enthusiasm. An informal group of Isla Viv, Pauline and Pam McCleland then took part in the Guild exhibition at the AMP Shows at Oxford and Rangiora to demonstrate felting.At the start the felting was done using very coarse wool. All Pauline’s family soon had boots. The group all explored garments. The jackets Pauline felted for her daughters were very heavy and they stood like soldiers! The family enjoyed the slippers and grudgingly wore the jackets.
Pauline felting in1983
The felting group grew. They called themselves Southern Felters. They were meeting in the Guild Rooms in the Arts Centre until the group become too big. They shifted to meeting regularly at the Mt Pleasant Community Centre for felting. Demonstrators were occasionally organised in association with the guild including felters from overseas. The group experimented with finer wool as it became available and introduced colour. Great fun was had and ideas shared. What a journey of creativity.Isla Clark was important during the Mount Pleasant days as she was so enthusiastic in sharing her felting knowledge. She did much of the organising and was always available to help new felters. She was trained teacher and very generous with her time. Without her enthusiasm the group may have fizzled. Isla made many international felting friends during this period and was always eager to try out new felting techniques she heard about.
The monthly felting days continued in Christchurch regardless of earthquakes and the subsequent demolition of the Mount Pleasant hall. Meetings are now held at Halswell Hall.
A tradition started of joining felters from South Canterbury for yearly weekend retreats at Raincliff and Glentui. The Raincliff retreats were organised by south Canterbury felter, Gwenith Lombs and Christchurch felter Victoria Haliday started organising retreats at Glentui in 2007. Victoria initiated a retreat at Glenroy in 2010 and it was so popular there have been yearly retreats there since, largely organised by Victoria and Christchurch felters Lynette Hartley, Anna Harris and Jane Dolan.
Felters in 1983
