Frequently Asked Questions

How did Wonky Felt start?

I’ve always had a creative side and enjoy designing and making things in my spare time. Felt is a fairly recent revelation for me. It started around Christmas a few years ago with the desire to make handmade gifts. I thought it would be fun to learn how to make toys for my niece, who is a big fan of all things quirky and cute.  I stumbled upon started Klutz books for how to make felties (cute little objects sewn from felt). I breezed through all the patterns, making fruit and tiny animals, then advanced to Jeanette Lim’s books. But that wasn’t quite enough–I had drawings and characters of my own that I wanted to make, so before long, I was making patterns and designing my own felties. It wasn’t long before I started accumulating large amounts of felties! (We’re talking boxes full!)
I gave my niece a jointed teddy bear, a kitty, and some fruit characters. I brought a couple to work and had them sitting by my computer just to smile at.   But at the time I still wasn’t sure where the felt hobby was taking me.

The Floor Hole

In July of 2018, there was an office remodeling project where I work. After some desks were moved around, an unsightly hole was left in the carpet. It was a 6-inch square eyesore with some kind of cracked, putty-looking substance and an odd stain… I figured I would at least patch it until it was fixed. I made a trip to Home Depot and got some carpet samples, but none of them quite matched. I also picked up some artificial turf, thinking that might be an interesting cover-up for the hole.

The Ongoing Project

What pushed me deeper into the world of Wonky Felt was that I had recently acquired a stack of stiff felt–and coincidentally, they were exactly 6-inch squares.  I thought how every one of those 6-inch pieces of felt could be into its own patch for the hole. With all the different colors, there were so many scene possibilities! That same month, I had a vacation planned, so I left a few items for my coworkers to set up while I was gone. (Things got a little weird.) But the whole time I was gone, I thought about new scenes, weekly themes…and if I could meet the demand for it to change daily. Could I keep up? The Instagram itself came out of necessity. People would miss a day of work and ask to see photos. Others were taking photos and sharing it on their own social media.  Thus, Wonky Felt was born!

Where did the name Wonky Felt come from?

“Wonky” is actually a term that I had been recently made fun of for over-using at work–e.g. “That looks a little wonky.”  Early on, I was feeling like my felties weren’t perfect–some were a little rushed and slightly wonky. So “Wonky Felt” seemed to be an accurate description.  People who don’t know me in person often call me “Wonky Felt” now too, which is great.

How do you come up with all these ideas?

I think of Wonky Felt as the weekly comic strip in the office.  Mondays usually set the scene or provide a hint of things to come that week.  Tuesday through Thursday usually make up the plot or highlights of the theme. Then Fridays are the punchline. I try to always end the week on a funny and positive note.  At times, when there isn’t much of a story or joke involved, the Friday ends with a TGIF dance party (as it does in real life–wouldn’t you say?).

For the theme ideas themselves: All of them fit the formula of, “wouldn’t it be funny if [idea goes here]?” or “wouldn’t it be cute if [other idea goes here]?”  Most are just my favorite bits of pop culture–stories, movies, music. (It usually has to be something interesting to me so it doesn’t feel like work.) Some are the results of suggestions or deep discussions of what Mustard Dog would want to do.  All of the scenes are intended to be light-hearted and kid-friendly. Wonky Felt doesn’t have some weird hidden agenda or meaning. It truly is there just to make people smile.

What do you do with the scenes after they’re displayed?

Early on, I was adamant about making every scene flat-packable so they could be filed away for potential re-use.  For the most part, that was successful, although I now have a file box FULL of scene pieces. Lately I’ve been making more 3-D, hard-sided objects that are harder to store that way.  Some of those end up on my shelf at work. A couple pieces were scrapped altogether and one scene was given away in its entirety. I try to make things as reusable as possible. The living room and kitchen scenes are good examples.

Do you sell any of your felties or scenes?

I’ve been reluctant to make an actual “business” out of this, as to not tarnish the original intent: to provide free humor and entertainment, one 6-inch square at at time. I did a limited run of characters and swag for Modesto’s annual Mod-Shop craft fair in 2019 and 2022. The proceeds from that went directly back into making more felties and felt boards for the library. I recently set up an Etsy storefront to keep the name reserved in case I decide to make another limited-run of felites. Keep an eye out for more updates!