when felting goes wrong...

[irish_leeny]

i just finished my first purse!

 

http://colleenatlarge.blogspot.com/2006/01/when-felting-goes-wrong.html

[donnalynn2]

How many times did you wash it? When I did my first tote, it took several washings for it to felt. If you want it felted, I would do it several more times... GOOD LUCK!

[Kiki]

I love the bag and I think it looks great as it is! I love that shade of green. Did you design it yourself or did you use a pattern?

[irish_leeny]

i have this bad habit of never following patterns. i just sort of put the bag together in my mind and let the hook do the "talking."

[tguzman]

very cute purse and nice colors .. I like .. i agree with the other ladies .. you need to go back and felt felt felt .. may take a few more washes .. but it will get there .. don't get discouraged .. just wash it again in hot hot water ..

[irish_leeny]

thanks! i will just have to try again, but with something else...hmmm....hatching an idea.

[Kiki]

Well, your hook walked well!!

[chickpea67]

Kiki-- its very similar to the FCEC felted purse.

[dhaunae]

I absolutely love your purse, and I like the color combination as well. As for the felting ... toss a glug of vinegar, a tiny bit of oil-based soap, and a pair of blue jeans into your washer, run it through a wash cycle on hot, and that Paton's Classic Merino will felt like a champ. It's my current favorite felting yarn and i've never needed to run it through more than 2 wash cycles to get a good, solid felt result. There will be quite a bit of shrinkage, though, witness this purse also done in Classic Merino (shown next to a Southern Living magazine for scale):

 

[Aggie May]

Are you washing it with something rough like a pot scourer. Dont use anything which will creat fluff, like a towel but something rough might work.

Try HOT water too which should shrink it, (unless it is pre-shrunk) then if all else fails, scrub it with a fine wire brush.

This will brush it rather than felt it.

I think it looks great anyway.

Have fun.

Colleen:hug

[kazily]

It looks wonderful the way it is if you prefer not to felt it more.

 

I just had the same experience as dhaunae did, but with Bernat Lana wool. I think I should have made my bag larger...there was more shrinkage than I expected lol! After only ONE hot wash it was very felted... but it's smaller than I want it to be. So like you I am going to do another one. Mine is ok...for wallet, keys & chapstick...but not much else in there. I need more room in my bag than that for my junk!

[JCB]

I'm still pretty new to felting but I've had pretty good results (with one exception). I throw in an old pair of jeans and a tennis ball, some Ivory snow, and the item to be felted in a mesh laundry bag. I set the machine for hot wash/cold rinse and just let the machine do its thing. I don't check it and I let it go right through the spin cycle.

 

I guess I'm a wash /n wear felter :-)

 

Joan

[shelain22]

I absolutely love your purse, and I like the color combination as well. As for the felting ... toss a glug of vinegar, a tiny bit of oil-based soap, and a pair of blue jeans into your washer, run it through a wash cycle on hot, and that Paton's Classic Merino will felt like a champ. It's my current favorite felting yarn and i've never needed to run it through more than 2 wash cycles to get a good, solid felt result. There will be quite a bit of shrinkage, though, witness this purse also done in Classic Merino (shown next to a Southern Living magazine for scale):

 

 

OOOOOH, where did you get that pattern?! I love it, and just to let you know, I will be stealing that color scheme! lol

[dhaunae]

Aw, I'm flattered! I made that purse up as I went along; did an oval base which you can kind of see in the bottom picture (it was folded up in the top pic) and when that was big enough i just started crocheting in the round. The entire purse was done in hdc and the zigzags are just fpdc into the row below. The shape I got purely from blocking; I stuffed the bottom half pretty well into the shape I wanted, and then kinda pinched the top part so it closed at the top and belled out a bit at the sides. I ended up not using the button closure I crocheted (that you can see in the top picture), but instead putting a magnetic closure inside the purse. The only change I'd make is to do the handles longer next time but ... I ran out of the Paprika yarn I've had more fun with felting, I swear. Threeolivemartini says it's like magic, like alchemy, and she's sooo right.

[irish_leeny]

i love the purse, too! it is beautiful and the color combo is great!

 

i actually washed the purse with a pair of my boyfriend's jeans which he says are too tight on him now because he eats too much mexican food. plus, the washing machine i used ran out of hot water halfway into the cycle (one of the joys of living in the country)...

 

thanks for all of your help! -colleen

[irish_leeny]

Tennis ball...a great idea!

[yarncat]

It looks great!

[JCB]

Tennis ball...a great idea!

 

I have to admit that I read that somewhere... not my original idea. I think I'm wearing the fuzz off my one and only tennis ball.

 

Joan

[playhookie]

Gorgeous bag - glad to know there is someone else out there who doesn't really follow patterns either!!! ;-)