OT - sorta maybe

Hi gang
Just got back from the city and shopping at my favourite "boutique"....
Value Village.

I found a fabulous navy pure wool London Fog winter coat for $40. Just like
new, and happily - a petite - which means not having to shorten it.(gotta
love that)

I also found 3 wool sweaters which I intend to felt and make into something.
One sweater which is a soft grey with pearls all over it will become an
evening bag. The other two - I'll have to wait for the felted fabric to
speak to me and tell me what they want to become. I'll keep you posted with
pictures (grin).

Shelagh

Hi Shelagh,

Great haul! The handbag sounds lovely.

I have a question for you and anyone else who may care to answer. I
have several cashmere sweaters that have seen better days. Could I
felt the entire sweater and then cut the fabric and make it into
something? How exactly do you go about that? Would I have to stuff
the wet felted thing so the fronts and backs didn't stick together?
Has anyone felted cashmere before?

TIA

Hesira


Shillelagh wrote:
Hi gang
Just got back from the city and shopping at my favourite "boutique"....
Value Village.

I found a fabulous navy pure wool London Fog winter coat for $40. Just like
new, and happily - a petite - which means not having to shorten it.(gotta
love that)

I also found 3 wool sweaters which I intend to felt and make into something.
One sweater which is a soft grey with pearls all over it will become an
evening bag. The other two - I'll have to wait for the felted fabric to
speak to me and tell me what they want to become. I'll keep you posted with
pictures (grin).

Shelagh

Shillelagh wrote:
Hi gang
Just got back from the city and shopping at my favourite "boutique"....
Value Village.

I found a fabulous navy pure wool London Fog winter coat for $40. Just like
new, and happily - a petite - which means not having to shorten it.(gotta
love that)

I also found 3 wool sweaters which I intend to felt and make into something.
One sweater which is a soft grey with pearls all over it will become an
evening bag. The other two - I'll have to wait for the felted fabric to
speak to me and tell me what they want to become. I'll keep you posted with
pictures (grin).

Good for you, Shelagh! I have to see if there is a Value Village here.
I know that they have a great Sally Ann.

Higs,
Katherine

hesira wrote:

I have a question for you and anyone else who may care to answer. I
have several cashmere sweaters that have seen better days. Could I
felt the entire sweater and then cut the fabric and make it into
something? How exactly do you go about that? Would I have to stuff
the wet felted thing so the fronts and backs didn't stick together?
Has anyone felted cashmere before?

TIA

Hesira


Sure you can. In fact, I just got home from the church rummage sale
with a bag full of assorted sweaters, some cashmere, some lambswool,
some just "100% wool". I toss them into the washer, hot wash, cold
rinse, el cheapo harsh detergent, then into the dryer on hot. I do sort
them into darks and lights, because you never know what will bleed
color. I had one burgundy sweater which, after a few washings, became a
lovely pale pink. I keep on washing and drying until they have shrunk
as much as they are going to, and discharged all the dye they are going
to, then just use them as yard goods. One year I made mother/daughter
vests for dd and dgd, just cut out the pattern in dark shades, then cut
out flowers in pale colors and sewed them on. The handbags I make are
always popular with the recipients, and last year I made felt slippers
for ds and dsil which were also well received.

Go ahead and play!!

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

How well would this work to create felted mittens? How hard is the
felted fabric to cut and sew?
Thanks --
Jackie

Olwyn Mary wrote:
hesira wrote:

I have a question for you and anyone else who may care to answer. I
have several cashmere sweaters that have seen better days. Could I
felt the entire sweater and then cut the fabric and make it into
something? How exactly do you go about that? Would I have to stuff
the wet felted thing so the fronts and backs didn't stick together?
Has anyone felted cashmere before?

TIA

Hesira


Sure you can. In fact, I just got home from the church rummage sale
with a bag full of assorted sweaters, some cashmere, some lambswool,
some just "100% wool". I toss them into the washer, hot wash, cold
rinse, el cheapo harsh detergent, then into the dryer on hot. I do sort
them into darks and lights, because you never know what will bleed
color. I had one burgundy sweater which, after a few washings, became a
lovely pale pink. I keep on washing and drying until they have shrunk
as much as they are going to, and discharged all the dye they are going
to, then just use them as yard goods. One year I made mother/daughter
vests for dd and dgd, just cut out the pattern in dark shades, then cut
out flowers in pale colors and sewed them on. The handbags I make are
always popular with the recipients, and last year I made felt slippers
for ds and dsil which were also well received.

Go ahead and play!!

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Jackie wrote:
How well would this work to create felted mittens? How hard is the
felted fabric to cut and sew?
Thanks --
Jackie


Dead easy!! Finer weight sweaters come out a medium felt, and chunky
comes out very thick - great for slippers. Provided you have felted
(fulled) them as far as they will go, they will not ravel. I stitch
them with ordinary cotton sewing thread, which usually buries itself
right into the fabric. Small items I sew by hand with big stitches,
larger ones can take a long stith on the machine. To seam them I
overlap the edges about half an inch and sew both edges - one on each
side so it looks like a felled seam.

You can decorate them by cutting out shapes in contrasting thinner felt
and hand sewing them on, I put flowers on my dd and dgd vests, and saved
a green sweater to use just for leaves and stems.

By the way, they are also machine washable and dryable.

Have fun!

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Thanks for the encouragement -- maybe I'll give them a try. I don't
know what a felled seam is, but I think I understand the process you
describe. I'm not planning to try it right away, but when I do I'll
let you know how they come out. Thanks!


Olwyn Mary wrote:
Jackie wrote:
How well would this work to create felted mittens? How hard is the
felted fabric to cut and sew?
Thanks --
Jackie


Dead easy!! Finer weight sweaters come out a medium felt, and chunky
comes out very thick - great for slippers. Provided you have felted
(fulled) them as far as they will go, they will not ravel. I stitch
them with ordinary cotton sewing thread, which usually buries itself
right into the fabric. Small items I sew by hand with big stitches,
larger ones can take a long stith on the machine. To seam them I
overlap the edges about half an inch and sew both edges - one on each
side so it looks like a felled seam.

You can decorate them by cutting out shapes in contrasting thinner felt
and hand sewing them on, I put flowers on my dd and dgd vests, and saved
a green sweater to use just for leaves and stems.

By the way, they are also machine washable and dryable.

Have fun!

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Well, I just looked up "felled seam" and now I'm confused -- but then,
you didn't say it is a felled seam, just that it looks like one, so I
guess I don't really need to understand it. You overlap the edges by
half an inch , sew down the visible edge, then turn the whole thing
over (or inside out) and sew down the other edge -- is that right?
Doesn't it get too bulky on the thumb?


Olwyn Mary wrote:
Jackie wrote:
How well would this work to create felted mittens? How hard is the
felted fabric to cut and sew?
Thanks --
Jackie


Dead easy!! Finer weight sweaters come out a medium felt, and chunky
comes out very thick - great for slippers. Provided you have felted
(fulled) them as far as they will go, they will not ravel. I stitch
them with ordinary cotton sewing thread, which usually buries itself
right into the fabric. Small items I sew by hand with big stitches,
larger ones can take a long stith on the machine. To seam them I
overlap the edges about half an inch and sew both edges - one on each
side so it looks like a felled seam.

You can decorate them by cutting out shapes in contrasting thinner felt
and hand sewing them on, I put flowers on my dd and dgd vests, and saved
a green sweater to use just for leaves and stems.

By the way, they are also machine washable and dryable.

Have fun!

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Shelagh i love felting [sometimes by mistake] my old sweaters ,,,
reading this decription gave me an idea of you cutting it up and
crocheting with other colors around the pieces and than assemb le
something [vest ???]

Katherine tried your idea [to put some elastics in the back of my
sweater]it helped , it looks good again on me ,,,, the vest isn`t
helped by it much ,,,
Of course since all are knitted downwards i could take out the under
side , but i REALLY don`t feel for doing it ,,,[also i might get the
lost sizes back -hopefully not ,,,,]

Today it is really cold and rainy , thus i might try on some sweaters
,,, and try and get rid of Summery ironing ,,,,
mirjam

Hi gang
Just got back from the city and shopping at my favourite "boutique"....
Value Village.

I found a fabulous navy pure wool London Fog winter coat for $40. Just like
new, and happily - a petite - which means not having to shorten it.(gotta
love that)

I also found 3 wool sweaters which I intend to felt and make into something.
One sweater which is a soft grey with pearls all over it will become an
evening bag. The other two - I'll have to wait for the felted fabric to
speak to me and tell me what they want to become. I'll keep you posted with
pictures (grin).

Shelagh

Jackie wrote:
Well, I just looked up "felled seam" and now I'm confused -- but then,
you didn't say it is a felled seam, just that it looks like one, so I
guess I don't really need to understand it. You overlap the edges by
half an inch , sew down the visible edge, then turn the whole thing
over (or inside out) and sew down the other edge -- is that right?
Doesn't it get too bulky on the thumb?


Yes, you have the right idea. It ends up looking like (for instance)
the seam on jeans. Yes indeed, this would be much too thick for
mittens. Depending on the thickness of the felt, I would either just
whip stitch closely all around the edges, or else machine stitch around
and let the seam show on the outside. Whipstitch - Take your needle
and thread and, from the outside, go in one side of the mitten and come
out the other, carry the thread over the top of the work, move the
needle a lttle way along and do over, so you end up with a look like
this on the outside ///////////

If you use matching thread, the stitches will disappear inside the fabric.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com