Monday 13 October 2014

Hand in Hand

I've been rather taken with handprints lately.. I really enjoyed using them on the Tambourine bag a little while back and have quite a few ideas for other items featuring them :)

So far I have made myself a coin purse.. this is to go with the tambourine bag. I was asked in comments on the tambourine bag post how I thought the bag would hold it's shape if used as a purse.. well there's only one way to find out.  SO when it's not being used for a tambourine :) this bag will double up as my 'posh' bag.. so of course I needed a coin purse to go with it!


Lots of handprint templates..
I used the shrink/enlarge facility on a copier to get different sized prints
Covering with layers of white merino
And the design layer.. with a 25% of actual size handprint
Part way through felting
Finished felting.. left to dry 
Hand sewn into a metal purse frame
Front
Back
and open :)  plenty of wiggle room for my fingers in there
I took these out for the first time last Friday night celebrating my babies 16th birthday :)
 As well as a handprint purse for myself, I felted a big tote for my shop.. quite a complex one.  This bag had 6 resists in total!  
Lovely Wensleydale locks :)
Side view
Instead of sewing reinforcing into the handle area I made
the felt extra thick. And the flap for sewing the zip in was a
perfect place for more tiny handprints :)

I love these strong metal YKK zips!  (sewn in by hand of course).
And I've still got lots more ideas for handprint pieces too..   so I'm sure there will be more to follow :)

6 comments:

RMK said...

Very nice & quite creative ...

Teri Berry said...

They all look so beautiful Deborah, you must be really pleased with how they turned out :)

FeltersJourney said...

Thanks folks :)

I am happy with them Teri, I'm quite obsessing with handprints at the moment :)

xx

Gill said...

Hi Deborah
I love the handprint look! The tote bag must have been a logistical nightmare, but what a fab result! x

Lyn said...

It's a lovely theme! The small purse is very pretty and the tote is amazing.

FeltersJourney said...

Thanks Lyn x
Gill it was interesting :) I enjoyed it x