
A felting Weekend
Last week end a friend Dianne Lemire and I went down to our friends Maureen Harding’s place for a felters weekend. Another friend Susan came on Friday to felt with us. It is so much fun to spend a week end with other people that love to felt.
I wanted to make a new little purse to use at shows. First I did a black one with a nice blue silk inside and a pocket. For the design on the flap I balled up some peices of orange silk and wound them up with thread to keep them in a ball.
I used a piece of black prefelt to cover them. Then some silk roving to make them look more like a swirl. I used a scrap of commercial prefelt but you could make a piece of your own. Once it was dry I cut the tops off the raised peices to reveal the bright colour underneath.
This is the inside with the pocket and you can see I added an orange nuno swirl that is hidden by the front flap.
Black is great but I decided I needed something brighter as well so I went with a multi coloured roving in orange.
I added a pocket to this one too. Here you can see I forgot to add soap to the water and it sits on the wool in beads. I think its a cool picture.
I used the flat glass “marbles” that they sell for decorating instead of silk balls this time. You can really see the out line of the marbles on the inside of the flap
I made a long snake to use as a strap. It is long enough to wrap around my waist or use as a shoulder bad depending on what I am wearing. I will put some grommets in the ends and 2 on the back to thread the rope through.
The holes I cut to reveal the marbles are not very big. I think I will probably enlarge them. I will post a picture when the grommets are in and the holes are bigger.
I will show you more form our felting weekend in my next post.
27 thoughts on “A felting Weekend”
You make this look so easy, Ann! Everything looks yummy 🙂
Thanks Leonor, it wasn’t hard but I did have to rub a lot more around the lumps so they would be tightly felted in and not move.
Very cool design and color combo. Do these bags sell well, Ann? I have switched to wearing cross body bags exclusively (in leather, though) because of the comfort level. Think it’s an aging issue! Nice work!
Thank you Loveswool. I made them for myself I need a small bag for when I do shows to hold my change. I will be able to wear them around my waist or as a shoulder bag depending on what I am wearing. I don’t know if they would well. I may try a few. Bigger bags don’t seem to sell from what I have been told and seen. I need to scale down my handbag it is to heavy.
These are both great bags Ann. Looking forward to seeing what else you made!
Thanks Ruth
Beautiful bags Ann, I really like your surface design techniques and the blue on orange is to die for!
Thank you Teri. It was fun to do.
Ann, that looks like more fun than the law allows! It would be great to spend a weekend felting with friends. I love both purses. I wear shoulder bags exclusively and since my surgery have had to scale back to a smaller bag. It’s funny when I worked corporate I wore only black or brown bags. Now that I’m retired I’ve expanded to brighter colors and even patterns. My friends are astounded. Haha. I will have to make a new purse now. The list gets longer. :-). Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing more from your weekend of fun.
It is a lot of fun. We all have different styles and it’s fun to share with each other. purses are fun. Yes the list gets longer all the time.
Great bags! Love the idea of felting in the glass.
Thanks, it was harder to do the glass than the silk. They wanted to slide around.
My favourite is the bag with the balled up silk – it’s great!
I like it to Lyn. The orange really pops.
My favourite is the black one too! How lovely to have a weekend with like minded friends. 🙂
Thank you. It is great to get together and chat and share and felt.
They look great, Ann 🙂
It sounds like you had a great weekend!
I’ve been making bags too, I’m trying to decide on the best closure for one with a flap.
Thanks Zed it was fun. I am thinking of those magnetic closures but I think you have to put them onto something else then sew it onto the flap. and cover it on the inside of the bag. usually it is hidden by the lining. I have to go to the craft store and see if the are more options.
Yeah, I have a few of those, and I have a spare inch of flap I could fold under too, which would hide the fixings. I’m just not sure that would be secure enough if I used it on my bike, maybe a webbing strap and buckle or something.
Can you make a nice felt piece instead of the webbing? A buckle would work too and might look nicer.
I did think about that, and for the strap too, maybe I will 🙂
Ann, both bags are wonderful. My favourite is the black one. I’ve seen somewhere (can’t remember where) that in order to prevent the beads moving, you need to glue them (only if they have flat bottom, of course) onto a piece of gauze and let them dry. Then you just place them on wool and cover with whatever material you want (wool or prefelt). In this way they will not move.
Thanks Nada. That’s a great tip for the flat bottomed beads. I will have to give it a try. I wonder what they are really called. They aren’t beads and they aren’t marbles.
My favourite is the black one, but both are really fab! I like the idea of cutting away to reveal the brighter colours…will have to give this a go. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Thank you Lincsinstitches, I am glad to share.
Hi
I was surprised when reading you article…to see my name Dianne Lemire. I am just getting into felting and just last weekend met another Diane Lemire at a gallery show of her felting.
I have never met or heard of another Dianne Lemire….and to find two doing felting is too funny.
Hi well you have only found one as this is the same Diane, we are friends. I live on the Ottawa side of the river.