Making Felted Woolen Purses on the Inside

Well, for the fiber fans in the crowd, I wanted to pop in and talk just a little bit about making felted fiber purses. A purse was among the first things I was inspired to make with felt. After a quick lesson in making batts, I came home and thought- well, that looks like it would make a nice purse~ so I did!

One part of the instructions I modified right away to make the whole thing around a resist and then cut the resist out. I made a resist only for the 'business half' of the purse and made the flap sticking up from that on its own.  Once it was pre-felted, the top of the front opening was folded under a little so that it would not stick to the back half of the purse. It is probably not quite as even as a cut would be, but I enjoy the organic look and find the felt edge can usually be pulled into shape while wet so it is fairly even.

After the purse was finished, I painstakingly lined it by hand as I have no sewing machine. That was WAY too much work, in my opinion. In the next phase, I simply felted things down a bit more and made sure the purses were sturdy enough not to need a lining at all. But then I thought wee fibers might get into things. I admit that I don't wear lipstick, but I imagine it is not where one would like their fiber to end up.

A couple of weeks ago, I had an inspiration - why not nuno the inside with some fabric I had lying about? Then there'd be a mostly fabric inside without all the trouble of hand lining it~ to my shock, this actually worked! At first, I made the fabric into nuno pre-felt, let it dry and cut it to shape, leaving some room along the seams so the fibers could felt together nice and strongly. After doing it this way a couple of times, I tried it without making the nuno pre-felt~ just adding a cut piece of fabric to the inside~ which also worked, but the fabric did want to slide around a bit.

To make the nuno prefelt, simply take a piece of loosely woven fabric, add a thin layer of fiber, get it a little wet and soapy and roll about 300 times, just until it's all stuck together and the fibers are poking through the fabric a little. Let it dry flat and cut it to the size and shape needed. The fabric part should go to the inside of the purse, with the fiber side up so that when new fibers are added they will all mesh together well.

That's it for now!

Nuno Felted Scarf mini tutorial

  The nuno (New? No!) journey continues. Scarf used for this project is rayon, which, if loosely woven, seems to work nicely. And, yeah, another thrift store find (hence the 'new? no!' designation). I was kind of afraid to do this one because of the print, but I decided to take the plunge yesterday and just pay no attention to the printed side! Gives me hope for some of the other printed scarves I have been ignoring...
Five photos show the three easy steps and finished product. Did it turn out precisely right? Well, no, but I like it anyway! I will 'splain what I did and why below.

  First, lay out the fiber (not too much!) on the wrong side of the (ironed) scarf on plastic on top of the bed. I do this dry so I can change it later if I don't like it. In this photo, the wool has been sprayed with cool water with just a wee bit of soap in it.

  Next, I wanted to see what would happen if I 'raked' the fibers~ just like a big bead! So I took a chop stick and carefully manipulated the fibers, making three lines. Then I filled in the empty space I made at the top with a little more fiber. Turns out this raking was not severe enough, so the pattern is pretty muted in the finished scarf. Oh- and that maroon? It's actually a lovely dark purple.

 And, because I have it, I added a little bit of 'confetti'. Just take bits of plied yarn apart into its single plies and toss it about.

 Whoops, no pictures, but next step is to roll it around a pool noodle, put a towel around it, tie it up tightly and roll gently. I do this for about 20-25 mins, then take it apart, check for empty areas that might need a bit more fiber, fix those, and put it back together for more rolling around~ while watching a good movie! By the end of the movie, you should have taken it apart 3 or 4 times and readjusted it (roll on noodle the opposite direction, etc.). Don't keep adding fiber, just the first time).

Hopefully, at the end of that movie it will be ready to slam on the counter 30-40 times, rinse in warm water, then water with vinegar, then cool water, wring gently, adjust and hang to dry. Go to bed and Bob's Your Uncle~ a new scarf to wear in the morning!

And here it is in all its glory. The back actually works nicely with the front. And it will be very warm! 

One more shot- you can see that the raking made the lines wobbly and not much else. Better than straight lines, anyway!

Oh, this picture looks wonky because it is. This scarf is not on a flat surface!