You have all heard that the shoemaker's children go barefoot. In this case the feltmaker's head was bare. Last month when my dance troupe, Damm al Haneesh, performed at Terpsicore each of the other dancers wore a felt fez that I had made, except me. At one time I had a lovely purple one but I sold it to someone thinking I would just make another but never got around to it.

So this week I made my own fez. I chose to make the slightly shorter version, like the one I made Yamina. I wanted to try putting design over the whole surface of a hat, like the print of a fabric. This is a challenge because the hat is laid out over a flat form and there is a seam to work with. It took special attention to lay design down over the seam and then felt the hat so that you can not tell there is a seam. I think it worked well.

The hat is made from 100% alpaca. The base is maroon that ended up loosing a lot of dye in the process. The design is in a varigated mocha color. I have noticed with alpaca that the fibers travel a lot in the felting process, making any surface design a little more fuzzy. So I might have spent less time laying down the design so particularly as it is not as visible as I had hoped. But I am still pleased with my hat, and I'm not going so sell it!