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How to Make Your Own Valentine

Felted Times Two Pouch

Tina Hilton, contributor

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A needle-felted gadget bag will be the envy of all your knitting buds.

Tina Hilton

Check out the latest issue of CraftStylish magazine for my article about how to craft the roomy shoulder bag.

Tina Hilton

The dimensions were 7 inches wide by 9 inches long.

Tina Hilton

A needle-felted gadget bag will be the envy of all your knitting buds.

Photo: Tina Hilton

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A felted thrift-store sweater is the perfect raw material for all kinds of bags from huge totes to chic little accessory bags and everything in between. The original bag I made for the latest issue of CraftStylish (now available on newsstands) was the inspiration for this cute little pouch I whipped up in no time. 

Check out the latest issue of CraftStylish magazine for my article about how to craft the roomy shoulder bag.

Supplies

• Felted sweater pieces
• Scissors
• Rotary cutter and cutting mat (optional)
• Ruler
• Tape measure
• Upholstery foam or Styrofoam block
• Scrap yarn, 100% wool
• Felting needle and/or needle-felting tool
• Wool roving (unspun wool fibers)
• Straight pins
• Zipper sized to fit the bag (I used a 5-inch zipper)
• Thread to match sweater
• Sewing machine (this can be hand-sewn if a machine is not available)

Step by Step
Cut out the size pouch desired from the prefelted sweater with your rotary cutter or scissors. My starting point was 7 inches by 9 inches. An unfelted sweater will work okay, but felted wool will give you a durable, firm fabric that will safely hold all your goodies without stretching out.

The dimensions were 7 inches wide by 9 inches long.

Position the felt material on the foam, then lay out some yarn in your design and poke it in position with a felting needle. Be VERY careful with your felting needles. They are treacherously sharp and will hurt when jabbed into your unsuspecting finger. Yes, I know from experience!

Whether you lay your design on paper first or freehand with the yarn, make sure you leave enough space to fill in with the colorful roving.

When your entire design is complete, give it a good once over with your felting tool to tack all the fibers firmly in place.

Clover makes a great felting tool that is widely available at knitting and craft stores.

Your design should be positioned in the middle of the bag. Place a pin at the bottom for a design boundary.

Position your zipper at the top of the bag and pin in place.

A bright pink zipper is fun and unexpected!

Sew in the zipper, making sure that your seam is close to the “teeth” to avoid having too much of the zipper exposed. Repeat on the other side of the zipper. A machine with a zipper foot makes this step accurate, but a plain old needle and thread would also do the trick.

Confession time. I have not installed a zipper since junior high home ec class! Not as hard as I thought!

Turn inside out and sew up the side seams close to the ends of the zipper.

I barely avioded cutting off the edge of my design when seaming up the sides. Not to worry!

Trim the seams to reduce bulk, and you will have a cozy caddie for all your odds and ends. Betcha' can't make just one!

I needle-felted the heck out of this and have no worries about its durability.

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Comments (2)

gardenuh writes: I like the way you outlined your design with the twisted yarn and then filled in with the roving. I've neve4r thought of doing a design your way. The bag looks great! Thanks for sharing it.
Posted: 4:24 pm on May 17th

Sweet_Dee writes: Smart!
Posted: 1:53 am on April 1st

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