Istarted making felted purses last year while the kids were skiing. It gave me something to do in the lodge that didn’t require any thinking which meant I could visit and work. I made one for my mom for her birthday last year and another for my aunt for Christmas. The handles weren’t quite long enough on my mom’s so I made the handles longer on the second one. I still have to finish making new handles for my mom’s purse. Maybe I’ll get that done during ski season this year.

On the left is the purse before felting… right is after felting. You can see how much it shrinks!

Here the handles are spread out on the floor. I measure them and measure the bag to see where I want them to go.

Next, I attach the handles to the bag by poking one end through to the inside. I tie a knot to keep it from poking back through. Notice the pearl stitch above the decorative yarn where the handle is being attached. The rest of the bag is knit. You can see a little bit of the handle at the bottom of the picture. I’m not even sure the name of this stitch. It’s knit, but you use needles that are pointed on each end. After you knit the row then you slide them to the other end, pull the yarn up the backside and continue knitting. It makes a cord. I don’t have needles with points at both end so I use the hoop ones and slide the stitches from one need to the other (LOL)! It works for me and I didn’t have to buy another pair of needles (LOL).

Here is a close up picture of the bag before being felted. You can see the very large knit stitches. The decorative yarn at the top will not felt which will make it pop out from the rest of the purse.

Here is what the above looks like after it’s been felted.

After the handles are tied on, I put it in a pillowcase….
tie a knot so the purse won’t come out. I wash it in HOT water several times.. wash cycle only not the rinse cycle. That is only done the very last time after the bag is felted to the degree you want it. You have to open the pillowcase and check the stitches after each wash cycle until you see that it’s the way you want it. I ran this purse through 3 hot wash cycles and a final rinse cycle. I add a couple of these clothes to the cycle to help catch some of the black dye. I think it helps because the white on the decorative yarn still looked pretty white after all the washing and the cloth was quite black.

Here is the cloth after one cycle. I put a new one in for each wash cycle. You can also see all of the yarn that has come off during the wash. It comes out in big clumps.

I’m still finding stray pieces of black wool yarn in my wash (LOL).

I’ve been told that not all wool is the same. If you want to felt something, you need to use a high quality wool or it won’t end up as heavy or thick, so I’ve been told. I’ve only used this brand and it worked GREAT! It is a bit expensive though.

The two purses I’ve made have been knit on a round hoop with needles attached to each end.

The main part of my purse is knit. I pearled the part above the decorative stitch to give it a different look (see picture above).

I enjoyed making these. I may have to try another pattern or make some wool socks or hats. We’ll see.