A giant shetland wool beret

Giant Shetland wool beret

End of  April I received an order to felt another even bigger Shetland wool beret: 48cm in diameter! Wow, what a great challenge!
Last Autumn I had felted a light brown Shetland wool beret with 38cm in diameter as a commission for The Beret Project in New Zealand. 
 

The 38cm in diameter Shetland wool beret 
for "The Beret Project" in New Zealand.

I love Shetland wool and was feeling excited. The resist for this 48cm in diameter beret was 57cm in diameter, as there is a lot of shrinkage for a felted piece. 
I then felted my biggest ever Shetland wool beret with 48cm in diameter! I layered out 3 layers of wool for each side and felted the beret with warm water, soap and friction. 
 

The first layer of wool

 

Lots of rubbing to help the fibers to interconnect.

 

Felted, but still 58cm wide!

 

The whole for the head

 

So, get it to shrink! Rolling, rolling, rollng!

It was hard work at the end to waulk and shrink the beret into a sturdy fabric.

The hat band was felted separately and sewn on by hand.

It's done: 48cm and a sturdy, stiff fabric !

 Now, there are 100 ways to wear this giant beret. Here are just 3 of them, modeled by myself!

  

 After a 10 days journey in a parcel, the giant beret arrived safely in its destination in the U.S.A. 

I the meantime I received another commission for a giant beret, same size and in red merino wool. Post follows soon.