Tencel and Merino Birthday Purse- Part 2 of 2

The back side of the finished felt.

The bag with newly-stitched leather handle.

The front side of the finished purse...

...and the back.

I like the subtle shimmer that the tencel provides.

The opened purse with leather button loop.

The purse closure with Moroccan button.

I had fun trying out a new kind of fiber with this project (the tencel/merino blend)...

...and I thought that it felted beautifully.

The color gradation enhanced the very spare purse design...

...and the darkest color is at the purse bottom (to help camouflage wear and tear).

Since my friend lives in New York City, I wanted to make something compact...

...with a long strap, to wear cross-body for security.

For the closure, I used another of the buttons that my daughter brought me from Morocco...

...and I think that it makes the purse extra special! :)

Tencel and Merino Birthday Purse- Part 1 of 2

Superfine merino and tencel roving.

Laying out the roving (from the 'outside-in')

Adding layers of spongy Hog Island wool for the purse lining.

Making an inner pocket.

Cutting a line for the flap.

Turning the purse 'right-side' out.

Cutting grey leather for a purse strap.

A friend of mine just had a 'big' birthday...

...and I wanted to send her something special.

 I decided to 'break out' a braid of my special stash roving...

...a shimmery blend of superfine merino and tencel in greys, deep pinks and plums.

I wanted a long handle for this one...

...since she lives in New York City, and will certainly wear this bag cross-body.

I also had a piece of grey leather that was perfect with this roving....

...and thought it might make an especially sturdy strap.

I used a simple, rounded-off rectangle for the resist...

...and covered it with layers of merino/tencel roving...

...followed by a couple of layers of Hog Island fleece.

I often make the lining of a purse a little lighter...

...so you can see its contents a little more clearly! :)

Next time: the finished bag...

...with a Moroccan button!

Icelandic-Cross Raw Fleece Purse

Laying out an inner pocket.

 

Adding raw locks...note the color of these locks and compare it to the finished bag...this fleece was absolutely filthy!

 

A peek at the olive and aqua merino lining.

 

(Please ignore the white stitches holding the straps on...
...I hand-sewed them while at the Creative Felt Gathering...
...and haven't yet covered them with a bit of olive felt.)


The finished bag in all of its hairy glory! :)

 

The perfect vintage button for this bag...
...given to me by my sweet friend, Melissa!

 

The back side of the bag.

 

Black nylon webbing makes a fitting strap.

 

See the olive roving peeking through the raw locks?

 

This is one of three raw fleece bags...

...that I made at the Creative Felt Gathering last month.

Elis Vermeulen was the instructor for this class...

...and she was (as always) truly inspiring!!!

She has a conceptual and highly physical way of teaching...

...and she delights in experimentation and artistic challenges!

I adore her...

...both as a teacher, and as a friend.

I purchased these locks at the Endless Mountains Fiber Festival recently...

...and I really wasn't certain how well they would felt.

I used olive green and aqua merino roving for my first layers...

...then added the locks with their cut ends down.

(This is a departure from my usual manner of placing cut ends up and covering them with roving and gauze!)

As a 'wild girl' at heart...

...I just love these hairy raw wool bags...

...and when I realized that I had recently been given the perfect button for the bag closure...

...I was in heaven!!

If you use nylon webbing for a strap, just remember...

...fuse the cut ends with a lit match prior to stitching...

...so they don't unravel!

'Neighborhood Park' Hat- Part 2 of 3

Laying out a pre-felt kite and adding tree roots.

 

After a second layer of fiber was added to the grass and road.

 

The fully wrapped resist.

 

After rolling and felting...with the resist removed.

 

The hat back.

 

The front of the hat.

 

A hint for next time! :)

 

I used small triangles of pre-felt for the kite body...

...and made a tail with a thin strip of pre-felt and bits of pencil roving.

I added another layer of fiber to the entire hat surface...

...refreshing the yellow center lines on the road.

After rolling and felting for a time...

...I cut the felt at the hat bottom, and removed the resist.

I finished felting the hat, trimmed the brim...

...and stuffed some fiber into the trees for 'puffiness'.

Next time: the finished hat...and what a silly hat it is!! :)

'Neighborhood Park' Hat- Part 1 of 3

Cutting out a basic hat template.

 

Designing 'trees'.

 

Attaching the trees to the pattern.

 

Adding the corner of a 'kite stuck in a tree' to the resist.

 

Laying out roving.

 

Flipping it over for side two.

 

Yellow pencil roving marks the center line on the road's surface.

 

Most of you know that I'm not really a hat maker...

...but I needed to make one to wear to a "Mad Hatters" party this week...

...and I decided that if I had to make one, I'd at least make it interesting! Giggle.

I fashioned a template for a standard sort of hat...

...then added antennae-like trees to the template top.

I traced my design onto a piece of foam floor underlayment for a resist...

...and added an extra corner piece for the kite that I planned to have stuck in the tree. :)

I laid out green roving for the grass and leaves, brown roving for the tree trunks...

...and light black roving for the surface of the road.

Short lengths of yellow pencil roving...

...mark the center line on the highway.

Next time: the kite makes an appearance!

Blue Wool and Raw Fleece Purse- Part 2

The bag front with leather thong button closure.

 

The bag back.

 

With its 'guts' pulled out...so you can see the fabric-lined pocket. :)

 

The pod-shaped interior of the bag.

 

It's always interesting to see how a new kind of raw wool will felt...

...and I wasn't so certain about this batch when I started!

Because this wool is from sheep raised for their meat, not their fleece...

...and because it had rained for weeks prior to their shearing (and boy, was this wool filthy!!!)...

...I didn't start with high hopes.

The fleece I received is a mixed-up combination of Dorset, Suffolk and Romney...

...and I'm not even sure which bit of fleece is from which animal!

As with most of my raw fleece experiments...

...I embarked upon the making of this bag as if it were a science project! Giggle.

For fun, I tried a new kind of fastener on this bag...

...cutting a thin length of leather and sewing it onto the bag flap (for wrapping around a button to secure).

The button is a pewter one that I bought at the Maryland S & W Festival this year...

...with a cute embossed sheep on its face.

I especially like the way the blue roving migrated into the raw locks...

...and you'll see how this worked to even better effect in my next post...

...another project made from this 'mystery fleece'! :)

Blue Wool and Raw Fleece Purse- Part 1

Laying out raw fleece and variegated blue roving.

 

Trapping unwashed locks between the resist and a layer of roving.

 

Voila---completely covered!

 

Adding a layer of silk gauze for strength.

 

I acquired a large quantity of raw fleece recently...

...and I wanted to make a special gift for the sheep owner.

I used my peanut-shaped resist...

...and centered 'blobs' of raw fleece on both the flap and the backside of the bag.

I then encased the resist in several layers of variegated blue wool roving (plus a layer of silk gauze)...

...and felted it in the usual way.

Next time: the finished purse (and a fun, 'sheep-ish' button!)