Laying out some of the necessary 'elements'...
...merino roving, plastic straws and a resist.
Rolling the straws in several layers of merino wool...
...and covering them with variegated roving.
Cutting the felt to remove the resist.
The partially felted bag with 'intact' straws...
...and with the straws removed.
The fully felted bag...
...stuffed (to block) and drying.
The finished felt.
The concept of ruffle-making continues to
elude me...
...yet I persevere. :)
I had a collection of soft, short, plastic straws in my studio...
...that originally
sheathed the stems of cut flowers.
I thought that they might work well as resists...
...so I decided to test this theory out.
I wrapped each straw in layers of merino roving...
...and placed them on the surface of the resist.
After covering the
whole shebang with variegated wool roving...
...I felted the bag until it was mostly felted...
...then cut out the straws.
It took a bit of work to fashion the cut edges into proper ruffles...
...and I do think that, next time, I would want to go a bit
larger...
..."bye-bye, straws...it was nice while it lasted!" ;)
Those of you who know me well, will notice right away that this purse was
not designed for me...
...but in a colourway that I hope will appeal to one of
you.
Since I missed my usual 'birthday giveaway' in March...
...this bag will be a 'spring giveaway', instead!
Please leave a comment on
this post or
the next one...
...and I will add your name to the list for the drawing.
Next time: sewing a lining for the bag...
...with a re-purposed felt pocket!
