2024 Textile & Fiber
Sarah Bierstedt | Algona
Purple Pincushion
FB: purplepincushionsarah
IG: purplepincushion
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Sarah Bierstedt is a full-time maker specializing in repurposing vintage textiles and discarded wool sweaters into a variety of beautiful products for you and your home. She has been sewing for 35 years and takes pride in using her skills to create items that evoke nostalgia and happiness. Whether visiting her booth at an in-person event or shopping from her online store, you will find an array of products to choose from throughout the year including wool plush animals, knitting baskets, purses, and hair accessories as well as vintage planter pincushions, scarves, mittens, and wine carriers. You are sure to find something for everyone on your list.
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Susan Cunningham | Central City
Susan's Felting
IG: susanacunninghamart
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Needle felting & ink drawings. Born and raised in Iowa, I have found a wealth of inspiration close at hand for my ink drawings, and recently, needle-felted work. A love of travel all aids my subject matter. I create 2D felted paintings using barbed needles to repeatedly poke and felt bits of wool on wool or linen background fabric. Whimsical 3D pieces are made by tightly rolling wool and poking it into shapes.
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Heather English | Fairfax
Guilford/Gauge
FB: guilfordgauge
IG: guilfordgauge
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Guilford/Gauge offers fiber art focused on coiled basketry and weaving and also includes wearables (such a scarves and shawls) and practical home goods (such as towels and blankets). Items might be made from yarn, thread, rope, fabric, repurposed clothing, or reworked textiles, but are not limited to any of these. Heather is the artist behind Guilford/Gauge. She is not self taught. She has been making coiled baskets for 35 years because her fifth grade art teacher taught her how. Her mother-in-law taught her how knit at the kitchen counter one Saturday afternoon. The rest she learned from books and failure.
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Megan Hammer | Urbandale
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By transforming wispy wool fiber into soft, strong felt, Megan Hammer collaborates with nature to create vibrant felted artwork that look like paintings. Using tufts of colorful wool like brushstrokes of paint, she combines wet and dry felting techniques to present an intriguing harmony between intention and chance. Megan embraces the texture revealed through the felting process and adds intricate detail to share botanical studies and explorations of our natural world. Megan earned a BA in Studio Art with an emphasis in painting and drawing from the University of Northern Iowa in 2003, and has been creating expressive fiber art since 2018. Megan teaches needle-felting workshops while encouraging an appreciation for nature by partnering with organizations such as the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, Polk County Conservation, and Reiman Gardens. Megan can be found admiring and gathering inspiration from the flora of her surroundings, whether wandering the wild prairie, or weeding her backyard flower garden.
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Lisa Nelson | Janesville
Wooly Bear Works
FB: WoolyBearWorks
IG: WoolyBearWorks
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Lisa is a teacher by trade and an artist by grace. Living at woods-edge, she derives inspiration for her work from the natural beauty all around. Unspun wool fiber, soap & water are transformed into felted art pieces to adorn home and person. Her work often incorporates other fiber & fabric to create texture and depth to each piece. |
DeAnn Puente
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DeAnn Puente of Round Robin Restyle is a self-taught sewist with a passion for upcycling fabrics and cast-off clothing into lovely items with a new purpose.
I make lovely and useful products from felted wool and other recycled fabrics. I started my business in 2013 with mittens made from felted wool sweaters. While I still love making mittens, I have expanded into making many additional products restyled from thrifted, vintage and upcycled fabrics. I make gnomes and pillows from team sweatshirts and aprons from men’s shirts. Sweater pumpkins and plaid flannel banners are popular items for fall markets. Tote bags are also fashioned from blazers, flannel shirts and other garment fabrics. Christmas stockings are crafted from novelty sweaters. Vintage small ceramic containers make darling pin cushions. I also make lots of small items such as coffee cozies, birdies, babies, cuddle buddies, headbands, hair clips, lapel pins and cat toys from wool and t-shirt scraps. I have an assortment of Christmas ornaments and wool trees, and pillows from sweaters and vintage wool blankets. Last year I added tote bags, cross bodies and zipper pouches crafted from beautiful boutique upholstery fabric samples. This year I plan to add some hoodies, cardigans, and dusters made from upcycled quilts and blankets. Everything is handmade by me and displayed with a vintage vibe. |