Doreen Redmond Chisholm is a retired music teacher, fibre artist and felt maker. She designs one-of-a-kind wearable art incorporating techniques such as hand-dying and felting, surface embellishment and manipulation.

In order to transform wool felt into a more drape-able fabric, Doreen combines silk into the base fabric. This results in an extremely light and delicate-looking but surprisingly strong material, “cobweb felt”. The work is then dyed with natural dyes using a microwave process. The dying and felting allows for the expression of the subtleties of colour in the resulting layers.

Doreen is inspired by her natural surroundings: the birds in her garden, the ocean waves, even winter storms. This is evident in the colour and shape of her garments and the incorporation of natural materials such as wood, rock or antler as accents in the finished work.

Image shown: “Sunset” – cobweb felt jacket, merino wool/silk georgette