Recycling

    Following on from yesterday's talk of recycling pullovers, here's a very early Cornflower post (probably read by around three people at the time it appeared) which is partly about turning an old sweater into a bag. I followed the instructions given in an ancient copy of Country Living, and here they are for anyone who wants to have a go:

First, felt your woollen jumper by washing on a hot cycle. Turn it inside out and sew up both armholes. Use the bottom edge of the jumper as the bag opening and sew across the top of the garment under the neckline. Cut off the arms and excess from the neck area and turn the right way out. Line with satin. Turn an arm inside out and sew 3cm in from each side seam. Trim close to the seams and turn both tubes the right way out to form two handles. Cut to required length and hand sew them to the outside of the bag [I fixed mine to the inside, between bag and lining]. Add decorative detail such as beads or a brooch - I used some of the offcuts to make leaves/petals which I stitched on and embellished with french knots.

    This was fun to do and rather quicker than the other one in that post (second, chunkier version here) which was knitted from scratch and then felted (pattern in this book).

Comments

[Jennifer]

It looks great, thanks for sharing it again.

[Darlene]

I've never tried my hand at felting, the results are beautiful! In these days of recycling, this makes a perfect project.

[Rebecca]

Oh Karen, how beautifully it has worked out, I just love the embellishment, very elegant.

[Avice]

This is inspirational. I have two old sweaters that I may felt this weekend. Thank you! One of them was made with a beautiful handspun romney & is sadly out of fashion. It dates to the era of the puffy sleeve (what were we thinking?) and just won't "do." The yarn would felt beautifully, however, and would make a lovely bag full of memories. Thanks for the clever recycling. :)

[Cornflower]

You're welcome, Avice!