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!

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.

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.

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 :)

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. 

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!

Embroidery Transfers On Felt? Bah!

Iron on transfers pattern from FrenchKnot.com

 As mentioned about a month ago, I received a custom order from a 6 year old. In between working on less demanding projects I've been since thinking how best make what I had been ordered. The thing is, I need to embroider a butterfly. Bugger! Insects aren't my forté. But I found lovely embroidery transfers free online and bought an iron on transfer pencil (2,5€ at Lankamaailma Nordia) and was eager to give it a go. I thought instead of transferring the entire piece I'd test the pencil first with just the butterfly.

 And ta-da; here's a picture of how it turned out:









                                     Did absolutely nothing! :D

Embroidery - Day 1

I had a gut feeling it wouldn't work on felt, but surely it had to be tested. I had been avoiding starting this project in fear of messing up (I put WAY too much pressure on myself when it comes to custom orders) and was rather discouraged and disappointed even though I had predicted it wouldn't work. I tend to get like that, afraid of trying something in fear of failure. But nothing left to do but just face the music and start stitching away!

I was so cynical and so sure nothing would come out of me attempting to free hand a butterfly I was pleasantly surprised when with very little effort I managed to "sketch" out the insect last night!

Today I added a bit of color and will keep working on it before moving on embroidering flowers on the bag, just thought I'd share what I'm working on at present. I think this might just turn out decent enough :)

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!

Magnolia Hand Bag

I doubt I've ever been prouder of myself. My goodness. I should award myself somehow for this. I'm speechless. My new hand bag took ages to finish. It was quick to knit, easy to felt, but oh sweet Jebus, what in the world convinced me that embroidering a million tiny leaves was a good idea. Took some time, believe you me. But it all paid off as this is super cute!!

Without further ado, let me present my very simple knitting pattern for a knitted felted hand bag plus embroidery instructions.

Yarn: Viking Naturgarn (50g = ~55m, 100% wool)

6 skeins

Bag:

Cast on 50st on size 6mm 50cm cable needle. To create the bottom of the bag knit flat stockinette for about 20-25 rows. The last row worked flat should be the right side. Then pick up 12st from the short edge, 50st from the long edge and again 12st = 124st. Knit stockinette in the round from there on and begin decreases after about 20-30 cm. Place markers at the corners if you choose and SKP1 (Slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slip stitch over) at each of the four corners on every second row for 5 times = 84st. Knit garter stitch for 8 rows and cast off. Darn in the ends.

Handles:
Cast on 6st on 6mm double pointed needles and 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 for about 60cm, cast off and darn in the ends.

Finishing:
Sow a plastic bag (see through, not coloured) on the inside of the bag with few loose stitches of cotton yarn so that the inside of the bag doesn't end up felting together. (I personally skipped this step and nothing dramatic happened, but I'd still recommend doing it just to be on the safe side.) 

Toss the bag in the washer along with an old towel etc you don't mind getting hairs all over. Set washer for 40 degrees. Once the program is over shape the bag carefully by hand. Shape the bottom part into a neat square so that it "sits" nicely on a flat surface. TIPS: with a size or two bigger needles you get a looser knit that wont felt as tightly as this did and is less likely to end up this lumpy. For good tips on felting go to: Knitty.com

Embroidery:
For the embroidery you will need approximately 16 skeins of DMC Six strand embroidery cotton, 1 skein per colour unless mentioned other wise :

898 Very Dark Coffee Brown (2 skeins)

3820 Dark Straw

3847 Dark Teal

3812 Very Dark Seagreen

958 Dark Seagreen

3831 Dark Raspberry

3833 Light Raspberry

3354 Light Dusty Rose

987 Dark Forest Green (3 skeins)

989 Forest Green (4 skeins)

Satin Stitch

Fishbone stitch

The branches, the bird and the flowers are created by simple satin stitch. 
The leaves are in fish bone stitch. All stitches are made with all of the six strands of the thread.


1) Start with the branches. I free-handed the whole pattern (apart from the bird, that was the tricky part so had to pencil in the outlines to get started), but you can use this embroidery chart if you please. Click to enlarge and print the image. Then copy it to your felted bag and stitch away! Add the leaves later depending on how much foliage, if any, do you want.

2) After the branches move on to the bird. In the detailed picture you can see the direction of the satin stitches.

3) Then move on to the flowers, starting with a bit of forest green, working up pedal by pedal starting with the darkest shade of raspberry at the bottom, then moving on to the lighter shades as you work your way up the pedals. Few stitches of the darker colors should be enough, the lighter color can be used a bit more, as the pedals narrow down towards their tips.

4) Last but not least, add the fish bone leaves, as many as you please.





5) Add a popper on the inside should you wish. Then shave off gently the excess fuzz from the surface with a razor, sow on the handles, add a seed bead to make the eye for the bird and you've got yourself a mighty fine bag!