Category: Wet felting

Dusting off my sewing machine

Dusting off my sewing machine

Despite doing numerous rounds of decluttering the house, I kept thinking “one day I will re-use my sewing machine again”….and I kept telling myself that for about 15 years!!!!!!!!!

Today I finally dug it out of the study wardrobe, rummaged around for the instructions and fetched a bottle of 3-in-1 oil in case it had seized up having not been used for a decade and a half (at least)!!!

I half expected it to blow up when I plugged it in, but a good few drops of oil on all the parts and it burst back to life!  There was a weird incident where the reverse button got stuck and I sewed one side in reverse!!!  Not sure how I can oil that part.

As you can imagine I am totally out of practice using it, but made a liner for my new felted bag I made.  I am happy enough with the results and if I make some more I am sure they will get neater, but for now I am very proud of my efforts.

 

Brother VX-1200

 

 

 Lining.jpg

Inside_bag.jpg

 

 

Wet felting…my first bag…updated

Wet felting…my first bag…updated

To make my bag I used:

  • ~160g of wool felting tops (2 shades Mulberry (from Kiki’s craft corner) and Maroon (from Gilliangladrag)
  • soap (I use olive oil soap)
  • a sushi mat
  • a homemade plastic template (I used an existing bag as a basis, but you need to multiply the size by 1.4 to allow for shrinkage)
  • some netting
  • a section of pipe insulation
  • large piece of bubble wrap (small bubbles version)
  • hot water
  • something to sprinkle the hot water evenly (I have a special felters bulb spray but a small watering can, squeezy bottle would work)
  • the wooden fulling tool isn’t essential, but it is handy to change method of agitation
  • towel to cover flat surface
The ingredients!

There are loads of YouTube clips on how to wet felt and Gilliangladrag website sells products, kits and has some how to videos.  I would say I made the bag first, then made the strap, so I have sewn the strap inside the bag.  I made the strap long enough that I could overlap the strap to the bottom of the bag so that I could sew a good amount and hopefully the handle is secure.

I needle felted a bit of wool curls along the edge of where I had turned down the opening, just for a bit of detail and to avoid needing to tidy the edge.

The front

The back

I will probably give it another cool iron to reduce the wrinkles and attach a clasp inside.  For a first attempt at a bag and only my 4th go at wet felting anything, I am really please with how it has turned out.

 

Update: I have now added a lining, toggle and my logo lable.