Teacher Gifts - Check

You can read a bit more about them here.  I added some beads along the cuff and made up the cards last night.  We are ready for the Christmas Parties.

Wrist Pin Cushion #2

This is the pincushion I made for myself after giving the first one away.  (Anita, if you're reading this and like this one better, we can swap.)

You can see yesterdays instructions for the wrist strap part.  

For the cushion I traced around a glass from the kitchen and cut two circles.  I attached the lace to one circle and stitched it in place.

Then I layered on the second circle and stitched, leaving an opening to turn.  I mark my starting and stopping places with two pins, otherwise I'll just keep going and forget to leave the opening.

I turned it right side out, stitched it to the wrist strap and put it to use!

And of course the funniest thing: even though my pins are right there on my wrist - I still find myself looking around for my pincushion!

Felted Wool Wrist Pin Cushion Tutorial

So I've wanted a wrist pin cushion for a while and had been looking around at ones that others have made when I realized how easy it would be to make one out of one of my felted sweaters.

I started with this sweater (already felted)

As I was looking at it, thinking about the other project I wanted to do with it, inspiration hit me.

Cut bands out of the sleeve to make the pin cushion!

The first strip was the binding.  Don't need that.  The next strip I cut about 2.5 inches.  This is the part that goes around the wrist.  The next strip is about 2 inches.  This will be the pillow/pincushion part.  The beauty of wool felt - no hemming/finishing needed!  The fabric is soft and stretchy, and wool is good for your pins and needles.

I turned the cushion part wrong sides out and sewed the two edges, leaving space to turn.  I turned it right side out and filled with fiberfill.

I hand stitched the opening closed.  (Wool felt is great, it really hides the stitches)  Then I hand stitched the pillow onto the wrist band.

So now its done and ready to go to work.

When I got this finished I thought it would make a nice birthday gift for my stepmom, so I jazzed it up a bit with some beading.

(Wow, you can totally tell the color difference between the night and day-time shots)

So since I gave this one away I had to make a new one for myself.  I'll show you that one tomorrow.

Felted Wool Purse

When I bought this sweater, I was only looking at it as 100% wool - good for felting.  But after it came out of the dryer, the yarn and beaded pattern remained and still looked great.

So I stared at it for a while, trying to decide what to do.  The first two things I made were wrist pin cushions (posts coming later).  Then I was thinking purse, so I deconstructed the sweater.

I just cut along the seam lines and took out the zipper - which I kept.  It was a nice separating zipper.  In the future, I will remove them before felting, though.

Then I trimmed the patterned pieces into two even rectangles. (8.5 x 5.5").

 

I cut three pieces from the plain red. (2-3.5 x 5.5" and 1-8.5 x 3.5").

Then start assembly of the box.  Because it is wool felt, I decided to do external seams for a little extra texture.  This means sewing 'wrong' sides together.  And I also think it helps the purse stand up a bit better.

At this point you can start work on the lining. Cut the same size pieces as the outer purse.  Back each piece with a heavy weight iron-on interfacing and assemble those pieces into a separate box.  This time I did right sides together for hidden seams. (In hindsight, I would have lined with black, I think it would have looked a touch nicer)

Next are the handles.  I cut two long rectangles from the red felt.  About 9 x 2". (It was as much as I could get from what I had left).  Fold the strips in half the long way and sew a seam.  Then pin the handles on the RIGHT side of the bag - UPSIDE DOWN.  (It took me three times to get this right.  It was late and I was tired.)

It should look like this, but on the RIGHT side

Next, put the two boxes right sides together, pin and sew, leaving an opening to turn.  Make sure the handles are tucked inside.

 

 I top-stitched around the top, to help keep the lining down.  I also tacked the lining to the outside at the bottom corners.

And....Cute Felted Wool Bag for Fall/Winter!

I posted this on Sew and Tell Fridays.  You can check it out here.

Felted Wool Mittens - Teacher Gifts

It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas.  Especially teacher gifts.  So with that in mind I put together these felted wool mitten pins.

They are super easy to do.  I felted a wool sweater from Goodwill.  (Hot water wash and high heat dry).  Cut out some mitten shapes, and stitched some snowflake shapes with embroidery floss.  I also added some beads for some sparkle.  The fur is some trim from the fabric store.  I backed them with some white flannel and sewed on a pin.

And now I am ready for Christmas Teacher Gifts

Felting

I got this fun pile of wool sweaters at Goodwill.  I have some wool felting projects planned, so these will all be thrown in a hot washing machine and dryer soon.  The purple one on top has already (I assume accidentally) been washed/felted. 

The navy one has a flag in the middle.  I can't wait to see what happens after washing.  Either a cool felted flag, or a mess.