Summer bag & purse

Just a quick post.. time is getting away from me again, can't believe its been a week since I posted our holiday pic!

 

Thought I'd tell you about my new bag..  I made it a couple of weeks ago actually, it came away with me and was very well used :)

For summer adventures I like a backpack type bag, to keep my hands free for whatever; scrambling over rockpools, helping kids and/or dogs.. you know how it is as a mom!  My trusty denim backpack (which I've used for about 8 years!) finally gave out a few weeks ago.  So I decided to make myself one..

Of course it HAD to be felt.. in 2 of my favourite coloured fibres.. with shiny, colourful decorative bits, and I decided to add some pretty cotton fabric my mom gave me too. 



I love these buttons for some reason...

I did take photos as I was making it but somehow managed to lose them! 

Basically I made a pretty long seamless bag, which was wider at one end (this is the bottom).  I'd used merino, so I felted it as hard as it would go - shrunk at least 40% & its lovely and pebbly now.  After cutting the flap I set aside the spare bit of felt till later.   I used pins and steam to set the folds in the sides.

The straps are sewn from the pretty cotton fabric, machine stitched into place.  I later hand stitched squares of felt over the top to look prettier & add a little more reinforcement to the area where the straps join the bag.

I wanted this bag to have a drawstring closure too, so out came the lucet..

Use thick blue crochet cotton to lucet a long cord. 
The nice thing with lucetted cord, it doesnt fray when you cut it to length.

I sewed a sleeve of cotton the same width as the bag top, with a channel running along the top for the cord to pass through - and stitched this into the bag an inch or so from the top.  I handstitched the closure loop in place then machined stitched the flap lining into placed, going over the loop as I did.

Unfortunately I did all three things without sitting back and just looking and evaluating what I'd done.  I sewed the sleeve in place the WRONG way round!  The back of the fabric is showing.  At the point when I noticed, too much would have to of been unpicked to take it off and turn it.. so for now I'm ignoring it.  I may try adding a piece of the pretty fabric over the white bit - well maybe, if I feel like it.. 



Luckily this bag is for me.. so I can ignore my mistake if I want to



The swirly pattern is made from the lovely bright pencil roving brought at Wonderwool,
there is loads of sari silk fibre too

I wanted a robust and functional purse, so decided to sew the zip into a cotton liner, then machine stitch the felt on.  I just love using this purse :) it feels nice in my hand.

The blue button is one that my lovely husband picked up off the floor when he was out walking - he knows that I have a thing for buttons & brought it home for me :)

Anyway, I'm off to make a cup of tea and find some lunch - just got back from work & I'm feeling pretty ravenous!

TTFN xx

Inspiration musings.. and outcome

Sometimes I find that I have the beginnings of a design... that flutter elusively through my mind.  I find myself moving on and doing lots of other things with that one little flutterby still dancing in my subconscious.  Until something happens; I go somewhere or see something that strikes like lightening and I KNOW what I am going to do next. 

For quite sometime (probably about a year!) I have been thinking about cave paintings, petroglyphs & ancient stone carvings...  there is something so real, and familiar, and tangible about them.   How to bring them into my felt though....?  Which images...?  I wanted them to mean something to me, to be personally significant - as the cave-painting & petroglyph depictions were to their artists.

Firstly I was thinking of handprints.. Actually I have been thinking of doing a piece of family art with all of our handprints on for several years now (so I guess the flutterby was there longer than I realised :)  a touchable memory - more physical and 'real' than a photo.   This project is still tumbling back and forth in my mind - it will get out soon though I think :)

New and prized additions to my book shelf

I was absolutely delighted when I received my newest felt book Nomadic Felts - Artistic Traditions in World Cultures by Stephanie Bunn.  WOW what a book!  It really is a visual feast; the photography is excellent, the felts shown incredible.  The book looks at nomadic cultures and their feltmaking pasts and present, with really interesting photos and insights to nomadic feltmaking.  It has a section on pattern meaning and belief (which I havent fully read yet!)  I am about a third of the way through the book  at the moment and I'm sure I will be posting about it again when I have read through.  As soon as I unwrapped it, before starting to read I flicked through pretty much drooling over the photos.  When I got to the 'Meaning and Belief' section I was jumping with joy..



There is a photo of a petroglyph in Kyrgystan of sheep!  It is dated second millenium BC/early AD  - my heart leapt, this was it!  Being a felter -  sheep are fundamentally important to me (and as you know I simply adore the funny beasties :)  I like the simplicity of the image.. and thought it would translate well into felt.  And so..  I made some nice big tote bags, with a useful pocket felted inside

This is the 1st I made.  Icelandic wool, with merino for the sheep & a nice slubby woolen yarn squiggled on and felted in.

This is my bag and I want to keep it nice and long, as I can fit lots in there.. but I shall need to strengthen the handle area.  It is strong but it folds a little when the contents are (?too) weighty. 

2nd bag.. I put more sheep on this one and made it a little longer so I could cut the top section off, and use that to double up the handle area - its really sturdy now

3 sheep on the other side.

Hope they show up ok..I used highly saturated colours and they are a bit tricky (to say the least) to photograph.

I am working on an orange and gold bag now..  I felted it yesterday, its dry now and ready for me to cut and sew the handles when I get an hour or so.

The other book in the photograph is the Orchard Book of Shakespears Stories.. a childrens book that I spotted in Waterstones a couple of months ago.  The illustrations are beautiful!  Rachael has been studying Shakespear (A Midsummer Nights Dream) and I thought this would be a nice introduction to more of his work - its easier going for a 12 year old to read, and hopefully discover Shakespears magic.  I was absolutely stunned to find this book on Amazon 'nearly new' for 24p plus a low postage cost!  I had almost brought it at the RRP... so I snapped this one up.  When it arrived it was in pristine condition, you can even smell the new ink!  Dont you just love getting a bargain :) 

OK, time to go get some work done.  Have a wonderful weekend xx

New bag for Spring

I've been working on a new bag design.  I'm really pleased... my first one is complete - and its a keeper :) .  I have another that is almost there, but I have to buy a zipper!  Why, oh why didnt I buy 2 (or even more) while I was at the sewing shop last week?!  The second one is destined for my etsy shop.  So,  pics...

 

This was felted over a pretty HUGE resist, I made it very long so I could create sections, including a full size zip close compartment.  I used a slightly coarse brown merino fibre, decorating the in and outside with creamy tussah silk and deep rose pink merino flowers.  By the time it was finished it was felted down by at good 50% into a nice solid little bag.  The bottom section was pushed up to create the inner zip section - I stitched across to form the bag bottom half way through fulling. 

The handle on my first one was a little wonky - I think I cut it unevenly.  So I machine stitched a strip of felt to match the flowers to the underside of the handle.. added a few buttons and Im really chuffed with it!  The second handle is much straighter... I like the look of the pink on mine though, shall have to think what to do with the new one...  I love the witch-stitch (or herringbone) holding the zip... takes me ages but I think its worth it.  The double flap is mostly just decorative, it does keep the bag front nice and sturdly & ensures a good fit when the flap is buttoned up.

Last week I treated myself to my first ever rotary cutter!  This was the first time I got to use it (cutting the pink strip) OMG this make cutting long straight lines SO EASY. 

I also finished off the lattice shawl/wrap that I felted last week.  Decided to add 3 little white flowers.  They work quite well as a 'fastner' actually, just pull one through a hole.  My daughter has her eye on this one - though Im not sure she would actually wear it...  Far from being an original idea in any way, this was still quite interesting to work on.  These lattices are covered in the Fabulous Felted Scarves book that I had for Christmas.

Today I am strugging.  Inspiration has run dry..  I cant felt another of my Spring bags until I buy some resist fabric - none of the pieces I have are large enough, and the original resist I made is looking a little sorry for itself, I dont want to wreck it until I have copied it so I'm not using it again.

I cant finish the 2nd Spring bag OR the Hip bag till I have the right zips, had to buy these mail order as I couldnt find a suitable colour here... and I'm still waiting!

Guess I'll go do some boring (yet essential) jobs.

TTFN

xx

My new bag

Ive had a great week experimenting & playing with felt! Yesterday I felted a hip bag for myself, Its got a definate sea theme going on; gorgeous blue shades of merino, with curly locks, silk filament fibre, sari silk ribbon, homespun fancy bobbly yarn that I plied with a metalic thread and a couple of tiny bright green silk chiffon scraps. Im planning to use it a lot through the summer.

Front

Back

Its seamless, well felted & hardened (it neads to be tough). Ive felted a really long cord (probably about 10 foot) with all the yummy extras that are in the body of the bag; sari silk ribbon, yarn, silk fibres. The cord threads through the back of the bag and wraps around my hips. I thought it was going to be too long, but I really like the way it goes one & a half times around, knots then dangles.

Ive sewn the zip in with herringbone stitch, I love the irregular edge of the finished felt.

On Wednesday I nuno felted a floral panel. Its the first time Ive done anything like that... so I was trying out different ideas. Im planning to use it as a banner / flag in the garden, the base is cotton gauze so its pretty floaty - I can just imagine it fluttering in the breeze. Just need to figure out exactly how / where to hang it :o) It`ll probably end up looking like a battle standard hehe

So this weeks been good & productive for me - hope it has for you too

TTFN

x