D rings – Felting and Fiber Studio

Felt Shoulder Bag

April 16, 2014 zedster66 Comments 26 comments

A few weeks ago, when I made my Camouflage type hat, I also made a satchel type bag. I used a more brown shades of wool and slightly less rusty/orangey colours. I used some camo print silk from an old scarf, some cotton gauze and also pieces of dyed muslin that Ruth sent me. On the back of the bag, I used a large piece of silk because I thought it would pill/bobble less where it rubbed against clothes.

This is a slightly different angle:

I also used a piece of cotton scrim to line the insides

I attached D rings to the side, for the shoulder strap to attach to. I tried to find webbing the right thickness to make my own strap, but couldn’t get the colour and thickness I wanted, so I’m going to use one from a bag I bought.

I did think about using straps and buckles for closing the bag, but decided that would be a bit fiddly

So, in the end I used magnetic clasps, and folded the bottom flap up about an inch. I don’t like the way the machine stitching turned out though, the clasp distorted it, so I might unpick it and do it again.

Here it is with the strap attached

Clasps, Closures and Fasteners

December 4, 2012 zedster66 Comments 17 comments

You might remember my post a few weeks ago about sorting and using felt scraps, and the notebook cover I made with offcuts. Well, as much as I liked the button closure, I wanted something a little more secure. I had a hunt through my craft drawers and found a bag clip I’d salvaged from something I threw away (I recently discovered these are called Delrin Clips) and using some more felt offcuts, attached this instead of the button.

One of my WIPs at the moment is a small shoulder bag, just big enough for a camera and purse. The closure I’ve used on this is a metal magnetic bag clasp. They’re quite easy to use: each half comes in two parts, you need to make a small cut in the fabric, push the metal ‘prongs’ through, then add the little washer and fold the prongs in. I haven’t decided yet whether to cover the top with more felt or maybe a large fimo button.

This got me thinking about all the different kinds of claps, closures and fasteners I have. I have the usual buttons, zips, poppers/snap fasteners, hooks and eyes etc, but I also like to salvage and collect any I find cheap. Not so long ago, I saw cheap packs of dog and cat collars and leads in Poundland (like a dollar store) and couldn’t resist buying a pack, which gave me a few Delrin clips and Trigger Hooks.

These Delrin clips were either bought or salvaged from old bags. The small ones are slightly different, they take a cord type of attachment rather than a flat webbing or ribbon type of fixture.

Most of the Delrin clips I have do take a flatter attachment though, so I just had to buy some nice braid for attaching them 🙂

I’ve managed to add to my collection of fasteners while I’ve been doing a lot of clearing out and tidying up lately. I salvaged quite a few lobster style trigger hooks, D-rings, split rings and key rings from old or broken or unwanted items.

Do you have any interesting clasps, closures or attachments? Do you have any tips for salvaging or buying them cheaply? We’d love to hear your ideas 🙂