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- Step-by-step instructions
- A list of everything you’ll need
- Helpful illustrations and diagrams
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Getting Started
To make this project, you need to have some experience in felting wool. You do not have to make the felt from scratch by using wool roving and special tools, which is time consuming. Instead, you can use your washer and dryer as felting power tools, which allows you to make felt fabric in a fraction of the time hand-felting requires, and with a lot less effort.
Choosing a Sweater
Not all items knitted of the same type of yarn will shrink and felt exactly the same way. When selecting a sweater to felt, start with one that’s much larger than you want the final piece of fabric to be. It’s possible that a loosely knit sweater that goes to your knees could end up toddler-size.
Needle Felting Technique
Needle felting is a great way to embellish fast felted items. To do it, you use a specially designed needle to incorporate wool fiber, called wool roving, into the fabric.
Place a foam pad under your project to protect your work surface and the delicate felting needle. Use a piece of foam that’s at least 3" (7.6 cm) deep for added security. Place the felted wool fabric to be embellished on the foam pad. Lay the wool roving across the fabric. Jab the felting needle down through the roving and fabric repeatedly until the roving is sufficiently incorporated into the base fabric.
Drink-Mix Dyeing
Unsweetened powdered drink mix is an easy-to-use and inexpensive way to dye small pieces of felted fabrics. Best of all, this nontoxic option gives fabulous color that’s surprisingly colorfast. If you wish to dye more felted fabric, such as an entire sweater, you might need ten or more packets. Hint: any brand will work, especially if it contains vitamin C—the ascorbic acid enables the felt to take the dye.
Purse Bottom Formula
To make a purse bottom to fit your purse, create a rectangle based on the sweater size and how wide you want the bottom of your purse to be. To find the size of the rectangle you need, follow the steps below:
- Measure the distance across the bottom of the sweater when it's lying flat.
- Decide how wide you want the purse bottom to be. That distance is the width of the rectangle.
- Subtract the width from the distance across the sweater (in the first bullet point); that number is the length of the rectangle. For example, if the width of the sweater bottom is 14" (35.6 cm) and the desired purse bottom width is 4" (10.2 cm), the size of the rectangle for the purse bottom would be 4" x 10" (10.2 cm x 25.4 cm). As another example, if the width is 18" (45.7 cm) and the desired purse bottom width is 6" (15.2 cm), the purse bottom would be a 6" x 12" (15.2 cm x 30.5 cm) rectangle.
- Create a paper pattern using this measurement, round the corners slightly if desired, and add a 1⁄4" (6 mm) seam allowance all around. Use this pattern to cut the correct-size purse bottom.
Skill Level
- Experienced Beginner
Materials
- Dark teal sweater, felted
- Extra large dark blue patterned sweater, felted
- Plastic canvas
- Polyester fiberfill or wool roving
- Fabric for lining, 3/4 yard (68.8 cm)
- 3 silk or vintage velvet leaves
- Vintage button,1-1⁄2" (3.8 cm) in diameter
Tools & Supplies
- Scissors
- Chalk marker
- Pins
- Needle and hand-quilting thread
- Sewing machine
| Copyright © 2007 Katheryn Tidwell Bieber | Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
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