felted shoulder bag - stage 6

The embellishment pack you get with your Felted Shoulder Bag allows you to personalise your newly felted bag.  

looking fresh and Spring like!

Our new raspberry pink Felted Shoulder Bag kits come with a choice of natural shell, blue or green buttons.  

This bag has a buttonhole (tutorial here) and a large blue button.

 

big blue button

With a green button embellishment pack we could have done this...

big green button

We hope you've enjoyed these step by step photos.  Remember there is is a Flickr group for you to show off your own Woolly Brew creations or you can upload it to our Facebook page.

If you have any questions (or would like to buy a kit) please contact us directly!

felted shoulder bag - stage 5

pink and uncurled

Once the pegs have been removed (and after a wee press with a steam iron to erase any peg marks) the Felted Shoulder Bag looks like this.


Now for embellishing...

felted shoulder bag - stage 4

looking like an instrument of torture...

Stage 4 should have included a photograph of the bag when it first came out of the washing machine but I panicked.

Even as a confident machine felter I was surprised at how small the bag looked after one hot wash. I needn't have panicked - a quick pull and stretch and the bag turned out fine!

SO DON'T PANIC!

The edges of the bag and handle will be curled when you take it out the washing machine.  We've shown how a row of pegs around the top can uncurl the edge (here), the same is true for the handle.  This bag is all pegged out!

It is hung up with a skirt hanger - this is not strictly needed but may help it dry quicker and give a slight A line shape to the bag.

And it's left overnight until the bag is completely dry.

Check back tomorrow...

felted shoulder bag - stage 2 and 3

in bits

The bag piece and handle are completed.  Now they need to be sewn together.  

Remember all the instructions on how to make you Felted Shoulder Bag are included in your kit (including backstitch!)

all sewn up

Now into the washing machine!

Check back tomorrow for the results...

felted shoulder bag - stage 1

a new colour for our Felted Shoulder Bag kit...  raspberry pink!

We're going to show each stage of the bag throughout the week... check back tomorrow.

felted shoulder bag - no closure!

We've put together some tips and tricks for all our kits.  Check out the links on the right hand side for more ideas and information.

We've shown you some ideas (cut a buttonhole and twisted cord) on how you can close your Felted Shoulder Bag.

But you don't need to fasten your bag...

big orange button looking lovely without closure

felted shoulder bag - I still need closure!

We've put together some tips and tricks for all our kits.  Check out the links on the right hand side for more information. 

This tip will give you some ideas on how to fasten your Felted Shoulder Bag once it has been felted.  You can find another idea here.

This idea uses the threads in the embellishment kit that you get with your Felted Shoulder Bag kit to make a twisted cord.  You attach the cord to the back of the bag and then loop it around a button on the front of your bag to close it.

shiny shell buttons with a monochrome twisted cord

The two buttons in the embellishment pack were sewn to the front of the bag - the smaller one on top of the larger one.  You can use wool leftover from knitting your bag or a strand of thread from the embellishment pack.

Using a combination of the threads, even some more leftover wool, make twisted cord.  You can print instructions on making twisted cords from the Sirdar website here.  Or view a photographic tutorial on about.com here.

Take your twisted cord and make a loop, adjusting the length to fit from the back of your bag to the front - make sure the loop can fit snugly around the front button.  

Sew the loose ends of the loop neatly to the back of your back.  Ours is attached near the top.  Trim the ends if you like or leave them loose, you could also sew the smallest black button in your embellishment pack on top of the loose ends to hide them.

If you don't fancy making a twisted cord you could just use a strand of leftover wool - attaching it in the same way as the twisted cord.  Or you could plait three strands of wool together to give a thicker loop.

Watch out for more ideas on how to personalise and embellish your Felted Shoulder Bag!

felted shoulder bag - I need closure!

We've put together some tips and tricks for all our kits.  Check out the links on the right hand side for more ideas and information.

This tip will show you how you can fasten your Felted Shoulder Bag once it has been felted.

If your bag is completely felted (you can't see or feel any definition of the knitted stitch) cut a buttonhole on the front.  Use the wool leftover from knitting your bag to buttonhole/blanket stitch around the edges of the hole - to keep it neat and secure.  Remember and cut the hole slightly smaller than your button!

If you cut a hole where your bag isn't completely felted then the fabric will unravel!

click to make it BIGGER

Neatly sew your button to the inside of your bag, lining it up with the buttonhole.  Remember that your stitching will be visible on the back of the bag so keep it neat!  We used the wool, leftover from knitting the bag so it blended in.

felting makes this wool go POP!

This is just one way to fasten your bag... watch out for more ideas this week.

felted shoulder bag kit... to curl or not to curl

We've put together some tips and tricks for all our kits. Check out the links on the right hand side for more information.

This little tip will help you change the top edge of your felted bag.

Once you've knitted your shoulder bag, sewn it up and then felted it, you can change how the top edge looks while it dries. 

When you take it out the washing machine and pull it into shape, you'll see that the top edge has a curl in it. When left to dry this curled edge looks like this...

with a curl

If you want the top edge to be smooth then put a line of pegs along the top to straighten out the curl. The spring loaded pegs are best not the dolly ones.

Once the bag is completely dry remove the pegs to reveal a flat edge like this black bag...

(If you find that your pegs have left marks on your bag then gently press with a steam iron to erase them)

without a curl

a Felted Shoulder Bag - step by step

a step by step guide to making our Felted Shoulder Bag.

step 1 - knit it.

A how to knit guide is included in the kit.

step 2 and 3 - sow and felt

The bag piece and handle are completed.  Now they need to be sewn together.  Remember all the instructions on how to make you Felted Shoulder Bag are included in your kit (including backstitch!)

Now into the washing machine! Full felting instructions are included in the kit too!

step 4 - pegging it out.

Step 4 should have included a photograph of the bag when it first came out of the washing machine but I panicked. Even as a confident machine felter I was surprised at how small the bag looked after one hot wash.

I needn't have panicked - a quick pull and stretch and the bag turned out fine! SO DON'T PANIC!

The edges of the bag and handle will be curled when you take it out the washing machine. If you like this effect then simply pull and stretch you felted bag into shape and leave to dry flat.

curling edges

If you want to straighten you handle and top edge try using pegs...

We've shown how a row of pegs around the top can uncurl the edge, the same is true for the handle.

I've hung it up with a skirt hanger - this is not strictly needed but may help it dry quicker and give a slight A line shape to the bag. And it's left overnight until the bag is completely dry.

Step 5 - uncurled and steamed

Once the pegs have been removed (and after a wee press with a steam iron to erase any peg marks) the Felted Shoulder Bag looks like this.

step 6 - embellishing

The embellishment pack you get with your Felted Shoulder Bag allows you to personalise your newly felted bag.  We've also included some ideas and instructions on how to add buttons and basic stitches to your bag.

I gave this bag has a buttonhole (tutorial here) and a large blue button.

Here are some more ideas...

no buttonhole, instead a twisted cord loops around the button

a loopy running stitch around the bottom of the bag

No buttonhole!  Just a big decorative button