91Èȱ¬

Esme and other felted dolls

Phillipa England studied Art Foundation at Bournville College of Art, and Jewellery and Silversmithing at Birmingham University. Although she wanted to follow this as a career, time and money constraints got in the way, as is so often the case, so she retrained as a nurse, and worked in the NHS for ten years before becoming a parish nurse for her church.

people purses

An ancient art

It all started when Phillipa's sister bought her a felting kit for Christmas in 2007. Felting is among the most ancient methods of fabric construction. There are archaeological examples from as far back as 6,500BC. The fuzzy fabric is even the stuff of legend. It is said that St. Clement and St. Christopher stuffed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters whilst fleeing persecution. On removing their sandals, they discovered that the wool had been meshed together by their sweat and movement, leaving them with felt socks!

The creative process

Heavenly chaos

"Here" is Phillipa's home in Erdington, which doubles up as a workshop for the sisters' online business, Felt at 91Èȱ¬, which also has an online blog and a Myspace page. Phillipa describes her house as "full of fluff…this is the chaos I call heaven!" Before my visit, I was warned to "be prepared for the mess", and Phillipa wasn't kidding. Her beautiful front room is taken over by the many felted creatures that spring from the sisters' fertile imaginations. "Housework is on hold, there is often wool in the dinner and the ironing is done on a need-it-the-next-day basis!"

Making a felted people purse head

Going for a spin

Merino wool fleece is carefully layered on a flat surface, or over a polystyrene mould, and rubbed with soap through net curtain fabric before going for a spin in the washing machine, to really bind the fibres together. The basic felt shapes which result from this process are then cut and embellished to create the final pieces. It's quite a time consuming process, but Phillipa and Alex's hard work is clear from the beautiful results.Ìý

Dorothy brooch

Take Dorothy, for example, a 2" tall blue monster brooch: Phillipa's 6 year old daughter Lili helped to design the monster, so it seems Felt at 91Èȱ¬ is turning into a family business. Phillipa's husband has his own creative input, although not in a way he would expect: "A good way of gauging whether we're going to sell something is my husband," she laughs,Ìý"if he says to me, "that’ll never sell," it usually gets bought the next day!"Ìý

Alma the mermaid People Purse

Art therapy

The brooch design originally came about after a commission from a paediatrician in Elkin, North Carolina, who shuns the more traditional doctor's white coat in favour of fun, child friendly clothes. She bought several monster brooches from Felt at 91Èȱ¬'s online shop, and when she wore them to work around the hospital, she received an inquisitive response from the children she was treating: "All the toddlers wanted to touch her, and one of them asked me what her name was. I was glad I knew!" It seems fitting that the two sisters, both trained in nursing, are still helping to care for hospital patients in their new line of work, as their fun creations go some way to take the children's minds off their illness- as they say, laughter is the best medicine.ÌýÌýÌýÌý

People purses up close

The sisters' biggest market is in the USA, where handmade dolls and toys are highly sought after. They have sold wholesale to a shop in San Francisco, and customised creations such as their best selling "People Purses" go down a storm. Clients will email in pictures or photos of a person, which the sisters use as the basis for their one off designs.

Alex and Philipa with their creations

Saying goodbye

The worst part of the job, says Alex, is having to let go of their creations: "When we package them up and tissue paper and boxes, it's very hard to put the lid on and post them off!" If business continues to grow for Felt at 91Èȱ¬, that's something both Alex and Phillipa will have to get used to.