A Scrap Felt bowl
Click to access felt-scrap-bowl-tutorial.pdf
It has been a busy month for me, with family visits, and babysitting duties. With all that excitement I had totally forgotten that my scheduled post for the forum was due until the other day. What to do?
I have been wanting to try Ruth’s scrap felt tutorial for a little while, so I thought this is an ideal time to try my hand and make a bowl. The link for Ruth’s tutorial is above.
I have some pieces of commercial scrap felt in a variety of colours, bought some time ago from a craft shop sale. I also have some small pieces of me made felt. Some glittery yarn was used. I found some Madeira Avalon water soluble firm stabilizer in a cupboard. I used a 12″square of the Avalon, or rather 2 squares of it, and sandwiched the felt pieces, and the glittery yarn in the middle. Ruth suggests to very lightly dampen the felt pieces to stop them moving about; I very lightly spritzed the arranged felt pieces before placing the water soluble Avalon on top. This definitely stopped the pieces moving. I placed a few pins around the edges to secure, and transferred to my sewing machine.
Stitching, was as Ruth suggests, in a circular pattern starting around the outside edge, and working towards the centre. Then further stitching in a spindle/spoke pattern to further secure all the pieces. All the pins are now removed and nothing is moving! Then I made some small circles all over the piece in a different thread colour.
Completed stitching, top and bottom.
The water soluble material was trimmed and I rinsed the piece in some hot water, for perhaps 20 – 30 seconds. Ruth suggests that some of the stabilizer should remain to help stiffen the bowl as it dries. I placed the felt over a glass dish to dry overnight.
I changed the dish to a tin of beans after an hour or so, and I think it will provide a better final shape. I am really pleased with the outcome, so much so I made another bowl and that is drying just now. The second bowl is more ‘holey’ than the first, both are very firm, and wondering if I should have rinsed out more of the water soluble.
Photos of completed bowls, and holding some spools of thread (4 large, 7 small).
Thanks for the tutorial Ruth, I really enjoyed making them.
14 thoughts on “A Scrap Felt bowl”
They are both lovely bowls and your stitch pattern is great!
It would seem that you left the right amount of stiffener in the bowls after all as they both look so good and are strong enough to hold all those spools of thread.
Mixing the commercial felt with your own felt worked beautifully – good idea!
Thank you so much, after the panic, it was a fun project.
Love your end result and what a speedy production for the post!
I like that you have explored colour outside with plain but lovely pattern inside, then colour both sides and hole-y. The stiffness seems perfect to give you a useable container.
Will you create more and go bigger?
Thank you Antje, it is amazing how panic works on a person!
The size of the Avalon was the determining factor, it is just 12′ wide, but I will look for a bigger roll. I wonder if 2 pieces of the 12″ could be placed side by side and ‘stuck’ together with a few drops of water. I will try,
Lovely colour combos, and I really liked the “circles” on the bowls, very pleasing to the eye.
I’ll ask the same as Antje, since I’m also curious: will you create more and go bigger?
Thank you Leonor, really kind of you. If I can find wider Avalon, or ‘stick’ 2 pieces together I will definitely attempt bigger.
Marie,
I think these kinds of quick posts are great, especially for our readers, looking for something they can accomplish quickly as well. You gave me ideas, of how to use some of my bits hanging around. I’m in the process of purging, at the moment. I’m interested way too many fiber pursuits. (😱Can there be such a thing??) This is a perfect project, for the bits that are too nice to throw away, but need to be turned into something useable.
Loved it, Capi
Thank you Capi, yes it was definitely a moment, when I realised that a post was due! It is a great way of using up pieces of felt, and also random lengths of yarn. Does not matter how much yarn is used either. It was fun, and I enjoyed it very much.
Great bowls. Thanks for sharing this inspiring project.
Thank you, appreciated.
Glad you enjoyed the tutorial Marie. It is a quick project and can be made in so many different ways depending on what your scraps look like and what thread you use. I like the circle effect and look forward to seeing if you go larger!
Thank you Ruth, you are very kind.
Great bowls, I had forgotten about that tutorial. Another thing on the try list. Panic helps a lot sometimes.
Thank you Ann, I am happy to recommend the tutorial. You are correct – a bit of panic tends to focus the mind!