Little felting help please

[suziecrochet]

I am making a purse with Patton's Classic Wool, I don't have a pattern to follow and was doing just fine until I realized that when you felt something it doesn't always shrink the same in the width and the length. I am now stuck at to how wide to make the bottom panel, I have the front and back panels and the sides that will also be the handle across the top, but don't know how tall to make the bottom. I was in Michael's talking to the manager (a friend of mine) and we were looking for a book on felting to maybe give me pointers and a customer overheard us talking, she sugested that I join Crochetville that someone here would be able to help.

My purse (before felting) is 50 sts across and 10 inches tall. The sides are 20 sts across and 30 inches long, it will go from bottom to top across for the handle and top to bottom on the other side. Now I am stuck as how tall do I make the bottom panel. It will be 50 sts across, ? inches tall. I hope that someone can help me. I wanted to stitch it together then felt it, but I may have to felt the pieces then blanket stitch it together.

Any help or suggestion I would GREATELY appreciate.

Thank You.

[angieInCA]

Well, first of all, WELCOME to Crochetville!

 

As for felting, figure that your wool will shrink by approxmately 1/3. I would suggest you do a swatch and test it first so you know how long to let it agitate in the hot water.

 

As for your purse construction I'm not sure what you mean by how tall to make the base but I have found that if you construct the purse before felting you will have an easier time of streatching and blocking after the felting process.

 

If you felt the pieces indivudually you can cut them just like fabric and sew them together but the fabric is very thick. But which method of construction is really up to you.

 

What I usually do when creating with out a pattern is I crochet measurements that are divisible by 3. So if i crochet something to felt and I want the final measurement to be approxmately 9" I then figure I need to crochet teh piece approx. 14" to 14.5". This all based on a half double crochet stitch. The hdc is what i use primarily for felting projects. Just remember to crochet loosly since the fibers need room to expand and condense in the felting process.

 

Hope this helps.

[Momcrochets]

I find it usually shrinks more width wise than height. However, if you find a copy of Patons "Knit and Crochet Felting" that really helps give you an idea. Each pattern is written both ways, and there's a bag pattern with monograms graphed for knit and crochet versions. The crochet alphabet charts are short and squat to counter the way they shrink (more side shrink than height) over all, the difference is relatively small. Have fun with it, though.

[JCB]

I just pulled a couple of bags out of the washer that were done with the Paton's Classic. One bag I didn't even recognize... LOL... It was so big a floppy before I felted it. Paton's felts beautifully. I set my washer for 15 mins. hot wash/cold rinse. I just let it go to the end. It felted great in just that one wash. I do have my water set to very hot.

 

I agree that it shrinks about 1/3 width wise, and maybe 1/4 length wise.

 

Good luck... you'll be amazed and hooked!

 

Joan