Sew on Handles and Tab before or after?

[Yearnin' for Yarn]

Okay, I need some advice.

 

I am making the felted tote from the Family Circle Easy Crochet magazine (I think they only published one issue); anyway, I have followed the pattern exactly (as far as I know), and it says to sew on the handles and the closure tab before felting.

 

I thought this would be easy enough, but it is really hard for me to tell where to sew them on so they are centered. Does anyone have any tips? Should I just felt them at the same time and sew them on later, and if I do this, won't it be obvious that the yarn used to sew these pieces on isn't felted?

 

Also, it is a tote worked from the bottom up, all in one piece. It has a rectangle bottom and then each round, the first and last stitches of each row are worked in the same stitch, so it made nice lines for the definition of the four sides.

 

However----it doesn't look "square," if you know what I mean. It looks like it twists around; I marked the beginning of the round on each row, and each row has the same number of stitches. What happened? Once felted, will it look "square?"

 

Thanks so much, I wanted to just sew it together and felt it tonight and be done with it, but now I am terrified that I am going to (or already have) ruined it.

 

Thanks!!!

Nicole

[Yearnin' for Yarn]

Well, I sewed everything on and felted it . . . . it felted up nice, but it's all wonky still. I will try to fix it somewhat by shaping it, but I'm worried.

Nicole

[dreemrytr]

Shaping may help. Have you tried pushing and pulling on it to get it straightened out? Although I've never had to with the felting projects I've done, I've read you can really put some muscle into getting the item into the proper shape while its damp.

 

Hope it works out for you,

 

Debbie

[Yearnin' for Yarn]

Thanks, Debbie. After some minutes of stuffing with rolled towels and pulling, folding, pushing, etc., It has straightened out decently. It isn't perfect, but it is better. The button I put on looks pretty badly, though. I am going to have to try to find a better button (Walmart has such a horrible selection)---maybe I can find a jar of buttons at an antique shop.

 

Nicole---Thanks again!