Shelley Steele - Felting Success - Flax Felted Flower Exhibition at Titanic, Belfast
- Amanda Jones
- Jun 20, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 8, 2025
Exciting News: Felt Meets Flax at Titanic Belfast!
By Midtown Makers Member Shelley Steele, Felting Crazy.
I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I’ve been invited—along with 11 other incredibly talented felters—to contribute to a unique textile installation at the iconic Titanic Belfast Museum!
This exciting project is a heartfelt tribute to Belfast’s linen heritage, and it all began a few weeks ago when Cheryl Ferguson, the Events Programming Manager at Titanic Belfast, reached out with a brilliant vision: to create 30+ large-scale flax flowers to be displayed in the museum’s auditorium.
🌾 As many of you know, flax is the plant from which linen is traditionally made—making it a perfect symbol of our city's proud industrial past. And what better way to honour that legacy than through the artistry of felt, another rich and tactile textile medium?
Realising this would be too ambitious to take on alone, I connected with the amazing Jane Fox, and together we extended an invitation to fellow members of the International Feltmakers Association, Feltmakers North, and Feltmakers Ireland. The response was overwhelming—and heartwarming!
We now have a team of 12 passionate feltmakers, each contributing three individually crafted flowers, making a stunning total of 45! The creativity, energy, and dedication of everyone involved is just incredible.
I’m currently working on the first few prototype flowers, exploring texture, structure, and how best to reflect the elegant beauty of flax through felt. Very soon, the full creative process will be in motion—and we’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses as we go.
This installation is more than just a display, it’s a celebration of craft, collaboration, and cultural heritage. I'm deeply grateful to Titanic Belfast for this opportunity, and to every maker who’s volunteering their time and talent.
We can’t wait to unveil the final collection of Felt and Flax in all its handmade glory!
Names of Felters:
Shelley Steele
Jane Fox
Elaine McCombe
Sharon Bell
Siobhan Healy Ryan
Fiona Whyte
Jacki Sleator
Marie Hopkins
Loli Cox
Laura Moffett
Lidia
Viktor Hurtovyi
The exhibition is due to run from 1st of July until September.
We are hoping to promote feltmaking as an art and craft and to introduce more people to this medium and raise the profile of our feltmaking groups and associations.
It has been great to work on a project such as this and it would be great to do another collaboration with this wonderfully talented group of creators again.
It has definitely been one of the highlights of my feltmaking career I would never of dreamt of doing anything on this scale it’s been a great opportunity for us all to be able to have our work in such a wonderful world renowned museum.
To compliment this exhibition, Shelley is running a workshop, here at Midtown Makers as part of August Craft Month:
Felting Crazy’s August Craft month felting workshop
Date 9/8/2025
Number of spaces 8
Workshop “Create your own beautiful iconic flax flower to hang on your wall”
In this workshop you will learn how to create a beautiful 3D flower, you will be shown and given written instructions on how to finish it off and mount it once it has dried at home.
You will be working with beautiful merino wool, bamboo and flax fibres and the finished flower will be approximately 28 cm in diameter.
All materials and equipment will be supplied.
This workshop is suitable for beginners and more experienced felters, adults only.
Venue Midtown Makers
Time 10.30 -2.30
Cost £55 per person with a £10 non refundable or transferable deposit to secure your place.
Please bring with you, two hand towels, and a packed lunch tea and coffee provided.
To book please email me on shelleysteele701@gmail.com.
Social media
Instagram @feltingcrazy
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