Felted to the Finish Line

Four and a half hours of measuring, cutting, sewing, ripping, re-sewing and sore fingertips. And now I get to jump up and down with glee. You first saw the messenger bag ready for felting in this post.

My process for felting has an extra step. Boiling water in the washing machine. This was such a huge project that it took two kettles of actual boiling water for the magic to occur. Our hot water heater is set just hot enough for bathing and clean dishes. This is how it is set. Just two clicks past Warm. Thus, the shot of boiling water any time there is a felting project.

Snowy, the grandcat, enjoyed helping while I sewed lining. It is so easy to plot the lining for rectangles. Don't laugh, but the bottom of the bag is a sturdy 1/8" thick wood length from the craft store. The front panel and both sides are reinforced with two thickness of plastic mesh canvas. There is no reinforcement on the back side, because I wanted some flexibility to curve around the hip.

First, I cut the wood and plastic guts and fit them inside the bag. When those were exactly right, then I cut the lining fabric with seam allowances. The planning and thinking and fiddling all worked out. I was so very pleased when the whole thing was finished that I actually took time to put away the sewing machine and pick up all the bits of thread and clean the mess.

Look carefully at the top photo of the completed messenger bag. Only one grommet on the flap shows. I've added a second and when my patience returns, a third grommet will go in. Pure decoration and no practical purpose. Sure does look good.

Wet and Wooly

Think ahead. Knit or crochet fast - as in maybe a mistake or two and then felt, felt felt. It is so easy to whip up a rectangle that is too big to be useful and then felt it to fit your favorite bottle. I’ve made a slew of these in a color way that will make any UCR friend happy.

It does seem that for stripes to felt and still have color “pop”, it takes at least two rows of knit or a good double crochet. My current no thinking pattern is to produce a nice rectangle measuring approximately 15 - 16 inches wide and about 12 inches tall. Then use a good single crochet to seam the cast on edge to the bind off edge and close up a bottom. Of course if you crochet the whole thing, sew the beginning chain to the last row. This is done so that stripes run vertically on the finished wooly sack. I even like the little feet that you see in the photo above.

Don’t like the feet? Then fold up (or to the inside ala fake gusset) and stitch down.

Guess I got to feeling a bit cocky. Fast knit, fast felt, fast dry was not good enough for me. I could do better - more fancy. Turn the whole thing on its side and look at it differently. You should have seen the Birthday girl’s face when she opened this purse and found a quite special bottle of Merlot. OH, Wow! This brown one is knit like a clutch purse in the style where you bind off the center stitches on one row and then cast back on on the next row. This results in a “self handle.” I did make contrasting side gussets that were only about 1.5 inches wide prior to felting. The whole thing is even lined with a fabric to match the gusset merino and closes with a zipper! Felted i-cord can make any design you want to add on and VOILA! Gift wrap to equal the gift inside.

Wool Smells Better

Terrible wild fires here in soCal. Let us all hold dear thoughts for those who are personally impacted by loss. The smell of smoke is everywhere and here in Riverside, we have brought the dogs indoor - too much smoke in the air. We are closely watching a fire in San Bernardino near the freeway.

So today I actually had almost an hour to work on what will one day be a thick felted messenger bag. This one has i-cord bind off as contrast. All that is left to do is finish the flap and i-cord all around that, make a strap and then felt.

My plan is to worry about lining later. First I have to decide who gets it and then customize for the lucky man. Look for the pattern at Knitty all the way back in Summer 05

I have looked at different possibilities for the strap. Right now I am leaning toward a purchased adjustable with the felted strip sewed on. And should there be a buckle closure, or magnets, or snaps or nothing? Way too many possibilities and this one is not yet speaking to me.