Free Embroidery Transfers

An elegant young lady commissioned a pink handbag from me recently. She, my youngest commissioner so far at the mature age of 6, was very decisive when giving me exact instructions for what she was looking for. She insisted the bag must be same size as the Cherry Tree Bag, but bright fuchsia, have a light bamboo handle and feature beautiful butterflies and one flower. Yes ma'am!

Having never even attempted to embroider butterflies I thought maybe a little research wouldn't hurt, taking into account that a) my customer had very specific criteria and b) the last time I fiddled with insects it didn't end too well (remember the horrible dragonfly slippers..)

So I googled for images to help me start sketching and what did I find: a site offering free vintage embroidery transfers. Perfection! Transferring images to a knitted felted bag isn't as easy as it would seem, but with an image as pretty as this, I think I might have to give it a go!

For free embroidery transfers go to:
www.french-knots.com

Roses Tote Bag

As I'm preparing to launch a little Etsy shop I'm making loads of knitted felted bags, or fulled to be more accurate. This big beauty was made out of 10 skeins of Naturgarn by Viking of Norway (colourway 632 Lime green) and the pattern follows the same principles as most my bags recently.


I'm particularily happy with the handles, they turned out quite nice. Here are the instructions for a braided handle:

Cast on 12 st on dpn. Purl 1 row, then divide stitches in 3 parts. With the first 4st knit I-cord: Knit the first row and instead of turning slide the stitches to the end of the needle. Bring the yarn from behind and knit to the end of the needle never turning, but sliding the stitches to the end of the needle after every knitted row. Knit 90 rows. Leave the stitches aside and do the same for the remaining two sections. Once you have all three I-cords knitted, braid them, join them on one needle and purl one row. Cast off and darn in ends. One handle takes one skein of Viking of Norway Naturgarn when knitted with a size 7mm needle.

I attached the handles after embroidering the bag and sewing on the lining so that they wouldn't be in the way.

The embroidery was done with DMC embroidery cotton in 5 different shades.

And now on to the next bag...

Yet Another Knitted Felted Embroidered Hand Bag

I'm gettin really excited about felt bags these days, it's pretty much all I think about. Seriously, it's not funny. I'm felt bag obsessed! The thing is I have been thinking maybe opening up a little shop on Etsy to sell a few bags. Initially I was thinking maybe going to a fair but - Swank me hard and call me Hillary - those tables are expensive! I wouldn't mind paying all that money to rent the table if I knew my sales would cover for the expenses, but since I've never sold anything anywhere, maybe Etsy is the place for me to start.

This one was knitted out of pink 100% wool, felted in washing machine and embroidered free hand with 8 different colors of DMC embroidery cotton. I sewed a cute tulip-themed cotton lining on the inside, finished the motif with seed beads, added bamboo handles and voila - yet another knitted felted embroidered hand bag finished!

Cute Fins & Mad Grins

I can't believe these babies are still alive!!

I couldn't believe my eyes when while rummaging through my parents' sock drawers in search of something warm all of a sudden these two mad fellas popped right out of the drawer! Seeing these poor innocent things after being apart for a decade I was moved to say the least.

I had made them for my dad at the turn of last century and now they were there, nestled in the sock drawer at my parents' little summer hideaway, looking very worn but still happy to serve. I pour my heart into most things I knit, and was touched that these awkward, clumsy little creatures had paddled their way into my dad's heart (and feet) into such extent that even after 10 years he still wears them. Aaaawwww, my daddy must love me, or else he wouldn't have kept them. Or maybe he just has a thing for cute fins and mad grins..

Cherry tree hand bag

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. After the Magnolia bag I decided I would never again take on another project that requires so much detailed embroidery.And here we are again, another knitted felted embroidered hand bag done! I'm not publishing instructions this time, as I hope to some day sell a few of these bags I wish to keep them as original as possible and avoid people copying these (though if truely inspired, it only takes an intermediate knitter to figure this one out without me publishing any instructions so good luck with that..)

I'm once again truely proud of myself after creating this bag that was first knitted, then felted. The embroidered theme is a dark coffee shade tree with french knot cherry blossoms in white and four different shades of pink. On the inside there is a beautiful cotton lining with similar colour themes featuring a little pocket pouch for keys and such. The light bamboo handles compliment the teal bag perfectly!