Fibre of the Month October - Black Welsh Mountain Project

I decided to make a bag again this month.. and the pattern was rather influenced by my new thermal socks :) which have nice diamond patterns on. There seem to be a lot of diamond patterned things in the shops this autumn..

This was definitely an experimental bag!  I tried out a new handle technique.. new way of inserting a zip.. new shape.. and of course - new fibre...   And I remembered to take photos at each stage.. good going for me :)  

Firstly I made the handle.. basically a cord with a metal ring at each end

The resist has extensions at the top to make loops for attaching the rings..
and a flap taped on at the bottom to make a wide bottom

I must confess I didn't have enough Black Welsh to make this.. so I cheated a little
by using white Falkland inside.. which will also make it easier to see what's inside

I cut diamonds from prefelt.. the green is commercial, the red and orange my own

carefully arranged :)
I did both sides the same

Then added a row of gemstone beads (Judit style)

Part way through..
The light looks funny 'cos it was dark now so I had the light on

Inside pocket.. thought a little prefelt detail would be nice :)

I wanted to add a zip to the top of the bag, but wanted to try another way I'd thought of doing the internal flaps to fix it to (rather than the resist method used last time).

I made strong prefelt, stronger than prefelt really.. more an unfinished felt -
and cut a couple of strips.  

Which I pinned in place then hand stitched with woollen yarn..

I worked this HARD.. I mean really long and hard.. with boiling water etc. till it was fully felted.

Drying out.
Notice the wide flat area in the middle of the handle for sitting on the shoulder.

All sewn in :)
hand stitched with upholstery thread

the finished inner pocket

Stitching the extrusions..
I threaded the ring on then stitched it down to form a loop

Finished :)

I'm really pleased with how this worked out..
This way of doing the zip flaps worked just as well as the other..
 I don't think it was less work or faster, but it may be easier

and open..

I just LOVE these Picasso Jasper beads.. they are so pretty and colourful

Perfect for wearing across the body..
(think I need to steam and block it again to get those creases out)

Very comfy on the shoulder

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For comparison to sampling data:

Resist size: 50cm x 55.5cm
Finished size: 35cm x 37.5cm
Shrinkage: 30% x 32%

Weight: 470g (this includes gemstones, metal rings and the zip)

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I used 2 layers of white Falkland inside and 4 layers of Black Welsh outside. Even though it was slower to felt with than most of the other fibres I use I really do love the finished felt and would use it again.  I found (carefully) using boiling water in the final stage really tightened things up and finished it off very nicely.

The cords were also a little slower but they did felt well!