Creative Fibre Festival

I’m just back from the creative fibre festival in Porirua last weekend.  I thought I would share some photos.  Porirua is a fantastic place and the two venues, Pataka Museum and Te Rauparaha Arena are amazing.  Southern felters didn’t have a huge presence but it was good to see textile work from all over the country. 

The Fashion Parade was very well put together with over 80 garments making the cut.  The next day all the garments are displayed so you could have a good look at them (but not touch).  My favorites were a nuno felted merino and silk dress by Lynn Evans of Wellington.  The dress was called Kurvaceous Kereru and it had shimmery silk panels in Kereru colours.  Raewyn Penrose from Te Aroha had a beautifully felted Merino silk dress with a skirt of cobweb felt in shades of grey with big full rose-like flowers on it.  The garments that stood out most on the catwalk were those like Raewyn’s which were beautifully tailored.  Some of the felted items seemed a bit floppy and shapeless compared to other methods.  Simple clean lines and defined shapes seemed to look the best.  The other stand out was May Bass’s Snowdrift which was a completely white nuno felted dress which was technically perfect felting and had a shapely scarf.

The fashion judge was Yanny Split and she questioned whether the parade should be called a fashion parade or something else.  Her observation was that the entries were not fashion focused.  She seemed to have a good point there.

Lynette Hartley

Anna Harris's gorgeous "Heather".  A handfelted, hand dyed jacket and dress in superfine merino and silk.  Anna is in Southern Felters.

Lynn Evan's "Kurvaceous Kereru"  Nuno felted merino and silk panel dress based on a Kereru





May Bass's "Snowdrift  Nuno felted dress wrap and hat in merino and silk

Raewyn Penrose's "Scotch Thistle" Felted, hand stitched Merino Wool and silk