Each season has a feeling, and maybe even its own fabric. Fall feels like felt. Or is it: felt feels like fall? They are co-dependents, chicken and egg. Soft, strong, supple 100% wool felt seems just right for any number of autumn items, from hats to home décor. 

Which makes Portland textile designer Kate Troyer’s new line of floor, wall, and tabletop felt pieces, released about a week ago, just right for bringing a fall feeling to the home.

Through her small, young company Wippowillow, Troyer has created lovely, floral-oriented screen-printed textiles before, but this is her first collection of intricately cut, decorative yet functional felt items for the home. The cut-out patterns evoke leaves and vines and other natural phenomena. She says she gets her inspiration from nature, with designs originating with her sketching scenes such as “a canopy of leaves” or “lily pads silently footing on the water’s surface.”

After she draws sketches by hand, Troyer digitized her designs so that she can hand them over to a specialist to be machine cut. The felt she uses is soft but industrial strength, high quality pressed 100% Merino wool manufactured in Germany. The pieces, for example the 35-inch round "Shade" Truffle design pictured above, would be beautiful as special rugs, wall hangings or tabletop accents. 

We hope to visit her screenprinting studio soon, and preview a line of fabrics she's developing for Bolt, the fab fabric store in Northeast Portland. You can find her Wippowillow pieces at her online shop, and custom-order to fit your space.