Lynne Farris has authored three books for C&T: Fast, Fun & Easy® Needle Felting, Fresh Felt Flowers, and A Touch of Felt (out this month). We asked Lynne to tell us how she got her start.

“It all started with my grandmother, Adele McBurney Stubblefield. She was an incredibly talented, creative and resourceful woman who spent most of every day involved in some aspect of a sewing or needlework project. I spent countless hours perched by her side, with her stopping patiently to give me scraps of fabric to play with, while encouraging me to create for my little dolls miniature versions of the clothes she was making for us.

Felted bulletin board from A Touch of Felt

Those magical hours of fun and the gift of patient attention from my grandmother instilled in me a love of fabric, color and texture, confidence in my own creative instincts, and the curiosity to pursue fabric art throughout a very satisfying and multi-faceted career as an art teacher, toy and costume designer, author and fabric artist.

After graduate school, I taught art and design for several years, both on the college and secondary levels. I became involved in puppetry while creating puppets for a theatrical production at the school where I taught.  I loved seeing the puppets come to life on stage so much that I decided to pursue puppet-making professionally.  That eventually led to a really fun stint as an in-house designer for a toy company, creating prototype stuffed animals for the gift and toy markets. I learned a lot about drafting patterns and simplifying my designs so that they could be mass-produced.

When the toy company closed several years later, I returned to freelance design, taking on ever-larger commissions for puppets, props and costume characters. I also created life-size fabric sculptures of trees, plants and exotic flowers that became the basis for my book, Fresh Felt Flowers.”

What’s your most outrageous project ever?

“I was asked to turn a golf cart into a whale for an advertising promotion. It was quite an undertaking and one I will never forget! My friend Mary and I worked fast and furiously to cover the golf cart with upholstery foam, then we used an electric knife to carve away all the extra “whale blubber”. The final stage was to upholster the whole thing in sweatshirt fleece! I have some hilarious photos of the whale being hoisted onto the back of a tow truck and riding off into the sunset while my neighbors and I cheered.”

What inspires you?

I keep sketchbooks and idea files I’ve collected for inspiration, so I have a long list of project ideas waiting in the wings. When I start an assigned project, I might flip through my sketchbooks with the specific project in mind to remind myself of ideas that I’ve meant to pursue. Bringing together seemingly unrelated ideas can spark creative connections that give me a fresh approach to problem solving.”

What’s next on the horizon?

“I always have several things going on at once. I’m working on a series of needle-felted projects and I’ve recently written a children’s book that I’m in the process of illustrating.”