Still feeling the felt!

 I'm still working with felt. These simple hand warmers are cut from the back and front of a felted wool jumper using the bottom rib for the edge.  I machine sewed the seam on the outside using my walking foot so that the wool wouldn't stretch, then added a few buttons for decoration. I was going to add some decorative stitching around the edges too, but decided they looked fine without it.

 When I tried them on for size they were so warm and soft and comfortable I didn't want to take them off.
I'm going to sell these but I must get around to making some for myself too. They'd be perfect for wearing at my craft group where my hands can sometimes get cold.  I don't know how hard it would be to knit or sew in these, but it would be better than full gloves.

 I've given the felt stash a rest now and am starting to look at my denim. This is one project in progress and I have a couple more ideas to try.

Bye for now
Teresa x

Felt frenzy!

Well it's not exactly a frenzy, but it sounds good. Whatever it is, here is the result of it so far.

Five Felt Hearts, made from charity shop woollen jumpers that I washed to shrink and cut up many moons ago. I've used some of the multi stripe before so there wasn't enough to make 2 with that. They have some lavender inside and also a little wool stuffing to give them shape, because if it was just lavender it would all fall to the bottom.

The same template for the centre of the lavender hearts made these little felt brooches. I made myself a similar one a couple of years ago and get many compliments when I wear it.

Here's a close-up of the green one (which is my favourite out of these) with a thimble to next to it, to give some perspective. I've put them on my Thread Shed Facebook page (post scheduled for later today) in the hope that I'm in time to cater for St Valentine's Day and also, possibly, Mothering Sunday.

I'm not finished with the felt yet but haven't managed to do anything with it today, apart from raid my shed for some more materials. Instead, I've been doing some admin for myself and a couple of voluntary organisations I'm involved with, which has taken me the best part of a couple of days when it should have been only a few hours.


Bye for now
Teresa x

Handwork and 2014 Challenge (January)!

I put my sewing machine away for Christmas so we could eat at the kitchen table, and it hasn't been back out since. Therefore, any crafting I've been doing over the last couple of weeks has been hand sewn.

These two round purses are from a pattern in Craftseller magazine. The original purpose of the design was to be used as an ear-phone case but these could have any number of  uses from coin purse to travel jewellery case (any other ideas welcome). And they count towards my Challenge to make use of my books and magazines.

I made the felt by hot-washing woollen jumpers. You get quite varied results doing this, meaning that the pink felt above is much thicker than the grey below. I'm glad I made the pink one first because it was quite a struggle to attach to the zip. Incidentally, the zips come from the pockets of some jogging trousers of my son's.

The grey purse had it's own challenges. I'm finding I need my glasses more and more when I'm doing close work, and sewing dark colours like this is the worst. I lost my 'best' pair of glasses recently (bought from the local post office for a few pounds) so bought a new pair. I couldn't find the same magnification I used before so got the next stage up - and boy did I need them. When I.....ahem......found the old pair, I compared them and was astounded at the difference.

Finally,  I got around to cutting up the pile of t-shirts I'd sorted from my clothes, into yarn. Added to what I already have, there should be enough to make something now.

Bye for now
Teresa x