The Felt Bag Epic Concludes

The washing machine beat the felt bag and has gone on to do ordinary laundry without ill effects.  Truly, that bag was felted down to a shrunken, shrivelled thing of prehistoric appearance.  I stretched it back out enough to slide it over the dictionary and stood it on the radiator overnight.  With renewed hope that I would actually have a bag at the end of this process, I flick carded most of the rest of the fleece with the dog brush and spun it into an equally lumpy ball of wool which I crocheted into a long strip on a 9mm crochet hook to be a shoulder strap.  That went into another 95 degree machine wash and I went to bed.

My confidence in the washing machine was well founded, this morning I found the strap had felted to pretty much the right length, if anything, shorter than I thought.  Now I only have a tiny bit of my first fleece left.

The flap at the top was intended to close the bag, but seeing as how the bottom seam gave way, this evening I have sewn it in to form the base.  Happily, I have some fine spun wool from the same fleece left from sewing up the seams of my first jumper.  The strap got sewn on too, this thick felt is nothing if not sturdy.  The texture is gnarly, more like something I dug up than a chic accessory.

I did need a way of securing the top so stuff doesn't fall out if I run down hill or climb rocks.  I have been caught out in the past by a loose mouthed, open top bag, racing back to the beach in a muck sweat to retrieve my car keys just before the tide took them.  Since I have a collection of stones with holes in them - naturally, every home should have one - I used two as buttons.

So, here is the finished bag.  It has a bit of a grim expression.  Since it looks like something that would lurk at the back of a cave, I shall name it The Troglodyte Bag.  Doubtless everyone will want one, but after the last couple of days, I think it will remain unique.

Attempt at making a felt bag from raw fleece

I have learned a lot from other people's craft blog sites and marvelled at their expertise, even if I don't share their taste.  Since last summer, dying wool with plant dyes has become my favourite  thing and in the last month or so, I have been learning to spin raw fleece into wool.  I do not have any expertise to speak of and my projects rarely turn out as planned.  I intend this blog to be a record of learning by trial and error and I hope people may read it who will post comments on how to do things better, or at least share my pain.  That sounds sad, really, I thoroughly enjoy myself even when stuff goes wrong, which is just as well. 

I had a bag of raw fleece leftovers which gave me much to ponder on through the long winter evenings of not paying full attention to Six Nations Rugby.  I ended up trying my hand at felting.  Having looked at various websites, I really fancied 

http://www.angelabarrow.co.uk/Blog/tutorial-seamless-felt-handbag/

In retrospect, I think error number one was vaunting ambition, I should think it would be easier to begin by making one thin layer of felt than a great thick bag.  This morning, being on holiday, I had a try.  

First stages seemed straightforward, I didn’t card the wool as the staples from the fleece seemed well aligned and quite easy to tease apart.  They flattened down ok under the old net curtain.

Then the turning over and putting in the resist.  Then layers on the back. 

Somehow, despite all my rolling the thing, 100 times one way then 100 times the other, the felt grew instead of shrinking.

It didn’t help that I had the bubbles on the bubble wrap facing out instead of inwards.  Error number two, read the instructions properly in the first place.  The whole thing was bulky, slithery and leaking grubby, soapy water everywhere as I rolled it.  I began to appreciate the virtues of clean, carded commercial wool roving.  Error number three was clearly using layers of wool that were far too thick and materials that were not those specified.  I rolled the beast loosely and stood it on end in the sink to drain, while I mopped table, floor and self, gave it a squeeze to get most of the water out, got some fresh bubble wrap and risked electrocution trying to felt it up with the electric sander.

Don’t try this at home, I didn’t die when I switched on the power, the bag beast did not rear up like Frankenstein’s unloved monster, but it didn’t felt much either.

Back to rolling, like in the instructions.

Then shock treatment.  Apparently, throwing felt on the table felts it up more and felted blankets were made by dragging them behind horses.  I made do with putting in a carrier bag, walloping it against the wall of the house til the pebble dash flew and jumping up and down on it in the garden.  Therapeutic and partially successful, but the bag was sadly weak at the ‘seams’.

So, I have a sheep smelling, soggy, thick, semi-felted bag with a hole in the bottom, it is mid afternoon already and I refuse to roll it any more.  Radical measures are called for.  It has gone in the washing machine at 95 degrees C together with an old towel, while I have a coffee and a fag and clear the decks.  Will the bag beast disintegrate entirely?  Will my washing machine survive?  Oh no, I didn’t think of that til now.  I should at least have put it in a pillow case.  Peering through the door, I can’t see any loose wool in the churning brown water.  Truly a cliff hanger of a first blog.