Flowers in Felt & Stitch

November 2014

Subtitled ‘Creating Floral Works Using Fleece, Fibres and Threads’. Moy Mackay’s ‘felt paintings’ are works of art. This book contains many images of her work. You can discover how to create a ‘felt painting’ with the four step-by-step projects. See the in-depth techniques used, learn what equipment is needed, be inspired and discover how to add detail with machine or hand stitching. Marvellous colourful and imaginative work. Highly recommended.

* Karen Platt Yarnsandfabrics.co.uk/crafts *

December 2014

Moy Mackay’s previous book ‘Art in Felt and Stitch’ (reviewed in WOW in September 2012)

looked at felting a variety of subjects. In this follow-on book, flowers are the focus.

From the outset, the author sets out her more unconventional approach to felting. Using felt

fibres to ‘paint’ a picture, she talks of how to use these and other silks and threads to include as

much detail as possible. She also uses scissors as an integral part of her process to achieve

clear lines and angles.

She takes us through the felting techniques from placement of fibres, wet felting, followed by

needle felting and then embellishing through stitch. As a book geared towards flowers, the

different flower forms are explored and felting techniques explained to achieve the shape and

look of flowers as diverse as daisies, thistles and lavender. This is a particularly good section,

providing enough different shapes for the reader to be able to tackle most flowers. The author’s

reworking of a Victorian-style flower study is a work of art before it’s felted, and to see the

project explained from start to finish puts the different stages into context.

The book covers three main areas of flowers in art and adapts them to felting. In addition to the

‘Victorian Study’, there are ‘Flowers in Still Life’ and ‘Flowers in Landscape’. Each of these

contains a sample project, fully illustrated with step-by-step instructions and photographs,

together with a large variety of finished pieces for each section.

This is a very bright and colourful book, full of beautiful felted pieces that show you how to felt

flowers in a variety of artistic styles.

* Workshop On The Web *

February 2015

Textile artist Moy Mackay’s book Art in Felt and Stitch was a huge success, and this follow-up volume delves a little deeper into her methods and inspirations, Moy’s paintings are a vivid fusion of felting and stitching techniques with fine art; what really sings from these pages is the tremendous sense of energy her work contains, and this is an exuberance that extends to the reader. When you see what the author achieves with carding felt and hand stitching, you can’t help but want to give these methods a try yourself. With a complete lack of any kind of pretension, Moy helps the reader construct their own works of art with ease, breaking down her techniques in a very understandable way, and encouraging experimentation. The images and illustrations are sumptuous, and the book provides a rich seam of inspiration which anybody with even a vaguely creative notion will want to follow. Whether you’re looking for something different to do in between heavy quilting projects, or want to supplement your existing skill set, then you should give this book a try; its dreamlike images and good advice will stay with you.

* Popular Patchwork *

April 2015

Moy’s ‘felt paintings’ blend traditional felting techniques using fleece, threads and fibres with hand and free-machine embroidery to create dynamic, tactile images. Colour guru Kaffe Fassett describes Moy’s style as ‘very free’ with a ‘passionate use of colour and deep texture’. As Kaffe says, Moy ‘concentrates on her surroundings for her subject matter’. Indeed, in this especially, Moy’s fine art training shines through. Flowers are not outlined and separated from their backgrounds, but interpreted as part of their environment whether in their natural habitat or in bouquet form in a still-life. Although outlines and details may be emphasised by stitch, the flowers are always completely integrated with the ground. In ‘Summer Meadow’, for example, suggestions of individual blooms are created using additional stitch in the foreground, diminishing subtly in size and quantity tumbling around a house at the picture’s centre. The landscape is then interpreted more loosely, the horizon and skyscape melding as naturally as if real. Full-page images of Moy’s jewel-like pictures are invitingly textural, encouraging further experimentation. Full instructions are given for creating both individual flower forms and landscapes. Introductory chapters cover not only basic techniques and materials but are also a guide to developing your own design style.

* Stitch *

Moy Mackay graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 1990 with a degree in Design specialising in printed textiles, and has since developed an innovative felting style. She uses merino fleece fibres like brushstrokes, embellishing them with machine and hand embroidery. Moy has exhibited her work throughout the UK and in the US, building a steadily increasing fan base.

Moy works from her studio in the Tweed Valley and runs The Moy Mackay Gallery in Peebles. Her first bestselling book, Art in Felt & Stitch, was published in April 2012, followed by Flowers in Felt & Stitch in 2014, gaining her worldwide exposure. She now teaches classes both at home and abroad. In 2013, she won Silver in Textiles and Needlecraft at the British Craft & Design Selected Awards, judged by Kaffe Fassett. In 2016, Moy was a contestant on Sky Arts’ Landscape Artist of the Year, reaching the final three in her heat.