Photograph copyright Dan Walmsley
Sorry about the terrible pun in the title there, but it had to be done really, didn’t it? It refers, of course, to my Paisley Bag design in the latest issue of Knit Now magazine, which uses machine felting as well as representing an excuse to use all those buttons you’ve been hoarding over the years.
Obviously, this isn’t the first time I’ve made a felted item. On the official side, my first time was a machine felted bag with knitted 3D fuchsias. I’ve a feeling it was a Noro pattern but I’ve not been able to find it on Ravelry. Nor do I have any pics, although I can confirm that it is still in use by my mum for her quilting bits and pieces. I also did a wet felting course (making another bag!) with my sister a few years back, and slippers including my French Press ones (which are a little too large for me sadly- felting isn’t always an exact science). Unofficially, my husband and I are both quite well practiced inadvertent machine felters, especially since small children have entered our lives and laundry routines sometimes take on the ‘scoop it all up, hold your nose, fling it into the machine’ approach- this is just one such casualty. I could also list at least two sweaters, a cardigan or two- I really shouldn’t be allowed pure wool, but I do love it so!
Even when felting deliberately, the process is not without its ups and downs and I really recommend reading the great ‘Guide to Felting and Fulling’ by Debbie Tomkies, which is also in the magazine. Swatching beforehand is really important, as I’d say when I’ve been swatching felting ideas I’ve got about a 50/50 disaster/triumph rate. Some yarns just don’t felt well, some textures don’t come up the way you want, sometimes the resulting fabric is too thick or too thin or too lumpy for what you want. With that it mind you really want to try things before you commit time and yarn to a whole project- unlike most other knitting, once you’ve felted, you can’t frog and redo! On the other hand, what you can achieve with felting is a great intensity of colour as the fibres squish together and, perhaps more importantly, a denser, firmer, more stable fabric that won’t stretch out of shape or wear out as quickly as unfelted knitting. In my opinion, it’s pretty much the only way to make a daily use bag from knitting without resorting to a fabric lining. It’s also quite exciting, in a slightly nerve-wracking way, as you make this rather unpromising looking, baggy item, then suppress your instincts to avoid putting woollen items (even unpromising looking, baggy ones) into a hot wash. You wait for the cycle to finish and…ta-dah! Magically, a totally different item emerges.
The yarn used for the Paisley Bag is Freedom Wool by Twilleys of Stamford. It was a great choice for this project for a number of reasons: it’s good quality and comes in a lovely range of strong colours, it felts really well in the machine and at just over £3 a ball, if you’re a first time and slightly nervous felter it doesn’t feel like too much of a scary commitment!
Felt looks really great when it’s embellished- I think it’s something about that dense, richly coloured texture that makes it a great backdrop for contrasting colours and shiny things. I raided my button box to make this project live up to its name- using them to create the distinctive teardrop shape of traditional paisley designs. The asymmetric line of the front flap of the bag was designed to balance with the long sweeping curve of the teardrop, but there’s no reason that the embellishment process couldn’t be an opportunity to make this a really personalised project. It wouldn’t even need to be buttons, as the outside of the bag would be a great canvas for applique, embroidery, needle felting and so on.
Knit Now Issue 22 is already with subscribers and is now out in the shops too.