Knitted Felted Tote Bags

Ha! After tediously trying and testing over and over again I finally managed to do kitchener stitches! Kitchener stitch is a neat way to combine two pieces of knitting without seams and is handy for handles and such.

I managed to use it in two different kinds of bags, both large tote bags. The first I made was this lilac beauty with a long strap to wear around the neck. I don't quite know how I did it, but I did!

Then I moved on to try it on a bit of a more challenging piece. The pink bag has pretty plaited straps. I did them by knitting twelve (twelve!!) i-cords, 6 on each side. I plaited three together and then using kitchener stitch joined them with three shorter ones, creating a seamless plait handle. It was tricky but I did it! Don't ask me how, I still don't understand how I pulled it off, I just tried and tried until the stitches were right. If I ever fully come to comprehend what is the logic here, I will surely share it. Until then there is nothing to do but accept the mystery!

New Hang Tags & New Bag

New and improved hang tags

Old hang tags

I'm getting ready for local craft sale by Keravan Käsintaitajat ry starting next week. I'm feverishly finishing new bags for the sale, as I don't want to put my Etsy shop on vocation mode as I did during Christmas sale. I've now got 3 new bags finished out of the 6 I was planning to make. Dead line is tomorrow. Ooops.

Anyways, I've made some new hang tags and am extremely happy with the way they turned out, make my bags look more professional and less hobby-y. I also made some iron on labels to go on the inside of the bags, unfortunately don't have a picture of one at the moment, but those turned out great also. So I'm almost ready to start the spring sale :)

Next up is renewing business cards, but I might just order them instead of making them myself, don't think my printer would love thick carton paper.

Knitted Felted and Embroidered Yellow Paisley Bag

 And now for something completely different; a yellow bag with free-handed paisley pattern.

I've noticed my bags all follow a similar style and themes and wanted to kick myself out of my comfort zone and attempt to do something completely different; paisley. Abstract patterns are not my forte, I have been stretching my imagination to tap into that abstract side of creativity. It's harder than I thought! It's a lot more easy to follow a more concrete idea than fill an empty space with what ever springs to mind. I think I'll stick to less abstract patterns from now on :D

Here's some pictures anyway of the process and the finished bag. As hard as it was it turned out decent enough.

Spring, Sweet Spring!

I am in the mood for spring!
I welcome spring colors with all my heart and in a romantic whimsy created this sweet spring bag. It reminds me off good old times, beautiful old Daher tins and Royal Albert tea cups, which I admit, have been haunting me quite a lot. My collection of beautiful vintage tins is expanding and they have no doubt influenced my work too, it's all so romantic and vintage-y.

It's just funny I should feel like spring.

This is what I see when I look out the window:

But this is what I think I see when I look out the window:

Am I an optimist or what? 

Bird's The Word

Ha! I knew it! After finishing the beige bag I had an idea of embroidering a smaller bird in a little cage in same colors and BRILLIANT; it turned out absolutely gorgeous!

These two bags would go great as a set, for example for mother and daugter, sisters, best friends.

A great weekend indeed, two gorgeous bags finished! :) And now some well deserved PIZZA!

Pink Bird On A Beige Bag

 Oh the sense of accomplishment! Is there any better high than finishing yet another craft, taking a step back to look at what you've created and see it's all good? I bet this is what God felt like after making me, lol!

False modesty aside, I am once again proud of my creation. The handle was a brilliant Etsy-find and suits this bag like a fist in the eye. I need to take some better photos though when the sun comes up, need good ones for Etsy. As you can see here, lighting makes a massive difference. All the process pictures were taken in in different lighting and they are not too good, sorry for that. I'm just so excited about just finishing this bag literally just three minutes ago I can't wait for natural light to share this with you :)

Edit: 28.1.2012 Now available in Etsy

Chirp chirp! The next bag will be same shape but pale pink, and I'm thinking I'll stick with the color scheme and motif, maybe do a bird in a little cage, that might be adorable, what you think?

Tulips, Tulips, Tulips!

It's not yet spring, but it might as well be! With this beauty finished just now it's hard not to feel like spring is again one day closer. Gotta love tulips! The colors are a bit off in the picture, glad it's weekend soon so I can re-shoot this baby with some actual day light :)

Two very different bags finished

I just finished two very different bags. The first in chic, sophisticated colors, the second in bright vivacious shades.

Though they are both beautiful in their own ways, there is no question, which one is my personal favorite. A bag with practically all the colors of the rainbow is just up my alley!

Which style is more your cup of tea? 

Feeling Blue

No matter how many bags I make, every time I start to embroider them I'm at awe at how therapeutic embroidering can be. Honestly, I could sit in a quiet corner for hours on end just embroidering. And believe you me, when ever I get the chance that's exactly what I do. I start off with a bit of Melody Gardot or Chopin flowing in the earphones, maybe some trad jazz even, a coffee cup near by and sit down to start stitching away. Coffee may go cold in the mug, my playlist end, but once I'm in the zone I wont even notice anymore. Once I get going I find my mind resting and heart beat settling, the world fades away and there is only me and my needle left. Making this piece was particularily therapeutic as I have been feeling a bit blue lately with no apparent reason. But with a tad of creativity I turned my blues into beauty. And I think I did a pretty good job.

What's your way to say bye-bye to the blues?

Wreath Bag in Black + a cry for help!

Since the reciever of this beautiful bag has already pre-inspected the work before me wrapping it up for Christmas, I feel free to publish a picture of it here too. Like mentioned earlier in a related post, I struggled with the theme for months. But it turned out magnificient if I may say so myself. I'm so pleased with the design I'm planning to make more of these, have already recieved one order. Only thing missing are the purse frames. I only bought one because I wanted to try it out first. But now I can't find them anywhere anymore!

If anyone happens to know where can I get great value purse frames, please help out :)

I'm looking for:
- purse frames slightly M-shaped (or straight)
- has to be sew-on
- steel color
- foldable handle loops
- plus if it comes with the chain.

Winter Frost Bag

Bring on the snow! Another gorgeous bag finished :)

Make it PINK!

There just isn't anything finer than a nice pink bag :)
Loving the mistletoe-theme so much right now I even combined it with a hot pink bag. And it totally works!Who says Christmas can't be pink?

I like the subtle interpretation of the mistletoe here as it's not too literal. I think I see it now as a mistletoe as I'm so focused on Christmas and all things Christmassy, but I believe come spring I'll just see it as a pretty pink bag with leaves and white pearls. Though hopefully it'll be sold well before spring :)

Happy Finnish Independece Day by the way :)

Delicate Mistletoe

I'm full of Christmas spirit already.
I wonder if I hung this bag up would I get kissed underneath it..
Will definately have to test it at the Christmas shop :)

Sneak peek in Santa's bag

I've almost finished making this beautiful black and white bag, but since it's going in Santa's bag I don't want to publish pictures of the finished bag just yet. I simply had to share my thoughts on the process this point because I'm super-excited with the way it's turning out!

The process of me making bags is truly a slow one. After knitting and fulling the bags they might mull in the cupboard and in the back of my mind for months, waiting for inspiration to knock me off my feet before I start working on the embroidery. This particular piece was knitted end of the summer and has been a troublesome one. Inspiration had nudged me several times but not hard enough, and my feeble attempts to grasp the little scraps of revelation and turn them into embroidery had miserably failed until I gave up.

I'm not a bona fide perfectionist, but inspiration does need to whack me in the head good time for me to actually be able to produce something to be really proud of. And eventually it did! With the holidays approaching and all things christmassy going through my head the picture of a beautiful wreath appeared before my eyes. It was if the heavens would have opened and choirs of angels sung, trumpets sound and a halo materialized above my head when the inspiration struck. Heureka! OMG I can't wait to show you all how it turns out!

Berry Bag and other things lovely

Oh my.
Just this morning I was wondering if Santa might bring me a tripod for Christmas. I have no idea how pricey they are, but I'm guessing they don't grow on trees even at the North Pole, so I was wondering how much would it set Santa back.

Several hours later I was at a flea market, not looking for anything in particular and what did I find: a tripod. For just 15€! Bargain!


I've been struggling with my photos because I don't have the steadiest of hands and daylight is getting more and more scarce, with my limited skills it's really tricky to produce decent photos. Not anymore!


I just spent an hour playing with the tripod, re-taking some of the pictures and just marveling at the device, if I would've known what a difference using one has I would've bought one ages ago. It's deadly!!

Here's the proof:

Ps. Santa, I already got the tripod. Please bring jewelry.

Simple Teal Bag

I knitted and fulled this bag a few weeks back but haven't managed to attach the handles until today. I've been suffering from a cold past few days and apparently snot makes my brain too foggy to perform even the simplest tasks such as sewing on a pair of handles on a bag. I haven't used handles like these before and had been wondering what might be the best way to attach them securely. I googled and I googled and I googled a bit more. Maybe it was the snot, but what I found was of no help at all.

After trying a few different ways I decided to use thicker dark blue sock yarn to sew the handles on at the edge of the opening, about 1,5 cm from the edge. These are the stitches that hold the handles in place so I stitched these ones firmly and rather tightly.

I used the same unspun yarn I knitted the bag with to cover the stitches sock yarn stitches.The unspun yarn is there just for cosmetic effect and can be sewn on a bit more loosely. Unspun yarn alone does not have the strength to keep the bag in piece as it tends to break easy.

 This bag is the second in my series of more down to earth purses. I love it, the color is so rich and beautiful, I found it didn't need any embroidery at all. The dark wood handles work so well with the teal, I thought adding embroidery to it would be like adding salt on bacon, completely unnecessary. 

Simple Bag with Heart Embroidery

Most the items in my little Etsy shop are said to be rather pricey. Indeed they might be, but the price does not only include the materials (yarn, embroidery cotton, handles, lining etc) but also the work that goes into these beauties, and believe you me, detailed embroidery does not create itself. I get it that I should have items in my shop that would be a little less valuable too, it makes sense to offer more range in both colors/themes and price tags too.

Lately I've been designing bags with a little less detail, bags of more subtle beauty. Offering items with smaller price tags does not mean to me offering items that are of poor quality, simply beautiful pieces with well thought and simply executed details. If I may say so myself, I think the shape on these bags is pretty in itself, plus I love the rustic texture of fulled wool. Elaborate embellishment is not necessarily needed to make these creations beautiful, the shape and texture itself make them pretty. Keep tuned for more bags of simple elegance..

Apple Blossoms and a Butterfly

 Oooh, finished another bag last night!
It's fairly girly, naive even, but then again, the customer ordering it was 6. Fingers crossed she'll approve!

I really like the apple blossoms, they look so nice against the fuchsia background I'm thinking I might try embroidering something similar on the pink slippers I'm working on next.

I love autumn, it's such a beautiful time of the year but these colors totally make me wish it was spring!