Ok, I'm attempting my first felting project with Dawn's Well Traveled Bag, at Wild Yarn which I fell in love with. So that I don't feel alone, I'm going to have you join me in my first felting adventures.
First, I'm going to show you the size of the finished crocheted bag. As you can see it is approximately 19 X 12. I just loved the colores in it. It will be interesting to see if they stay the same after felting.
Next, I'm going place the crocheted purse in a zippered pillowcase for washing.
Well, that wasn't difficult.
Now I promised to show you the inside of my washing machine, and so I will.
As you can see, I placed an old pair of jeans and a pair of flip flops for extra agitation and of course the pillowcase with the purse zippered inside. I put the machine on the small load, hot wash/cold rinse (tho it won't rinse at all in the machine) and a regular/normal wash.
I checked the purse after 10 minutes and it had already begun to felt fairly well. I gave it another 10 minutes and was satisfied with this.
I did a close up of the stitches so you could see how close they have become now.
I stopped here and took it out for a cold water rinse by hand and also I also squeezed out the excess water with a towel. I didn't want to wring it dry as I did not want excess creasing. Just a good squeeze in a towel did it.
Now, I'm going to block it. I put a plastic bag over a box that was about the same size then placed the damp felted purse over it for a good 24 hour drying.
So, tomorrow, I'll let you see the finished product that is hopefully dry. I'll also measure it again so you can see the difference in sizes from the crochet item.
Also, I found this site http://lusciousgracious.com/felt.htm a very good tutorial for felting. I'm sorta following these steps, but there are also some hints and tips on there that you may find interesting and helpful.
So, check me out tomorrow to see at what point the purse is. Enjoy the rest of your evening and don't forget to come back for hopefully the finished product. Hasta manana!!!
