Knit Felted Bags - Student Work - with Handspun, Hand Dyed Yarns

Yeap, all that above went into the making of these gorgeous bags.  They were made by my Advanced 3rd year 3-d girls, Nandi Best (above) and Kelsea Lee (below).  This was actually their second assignment of the year, and a whole heck of a lot went into the production.

The girls started off by making their own hand spindles in wood (see Drop Spindles on the right).  Then they dyed their wool roving with food colors, and spun them on their drop spindles as well as on my spinning wheels I keep in the classroom.  They picked out some complimentary wool yarns to go with their handspuns and then designed and knit their bags in the round.

They were also required to come up with handles as well as embellishments.  Then at the very end to felt their purses at home in their washing machines.  It was totally up to them to decide how felted they wanted their bag to be.  Nandi felted hers way more then Kelsea did, so the yarns have a completely different feel and look to them.  Because Nandi felted hers so much more she doesn't need to line hers, but Kelsea does, or else small items will slip thru.

Both pieces were amazing with a lot of effort put into them.  Sorry you guys that it took me so dang long to get them posted.

Finally Finished - My Work

It's only taken me a good 5 years to finish this bag, but it's finally done, and boy oh boy does that feel GOOOOOOD! The yarns were demo. yarns that I hand spun for my Beginning 3-d students. (Hand dyed rovings came from Lori Lawson at Cap Fib Arts) After the assignment was over, I used all of them to crochet 34 granny squares. Then the next year I sewed them together leaving the tail ends exposed and then tossed the bag into the washing machine to felt it. The following summer I designed and sewed up a lining with several sized pockets for scissors, glasses, etc., and then realized that the bag was too floppy and wouldn't stand on it's end. So I lost interest cuz I knew what I needed to do and I was dreading it. Eventually I pulled it out again, went to Joanne's and picked up some plastic sheeting grids used for cross stitch or something like that. I cut them up and sewed together an inner lining to help hold up the bag. But guess what, when it was done it wouldn't fit right, it was too large and too high. So back went the purse into storage till this year when I was visiting a yarn store in Lake Forest (Yarn Lady). There I found the most perfect rubber liners just the right size. All I had to do was to sew them together, then insert my cloth lining over top and overcast it to the bag's lip, sew on my handles, and wella, my new crafts bag.

And like I said, it feels so good to finally be done with this LOL

Hand Knit/Hand Felted Bags - Student Work

Here are my girls, spinning their hearts out on my spinning wheels. They are my 3rd year Advanced 3-d art students, and they just made these gorgeous bags from scratch (see below).

So much work was involved in the process, they had to hand dye wool roving and then spin it into yarn on the spinning wheels, then learn to knit on circular needles and plan out their bag design, complete with handles. They were required to stripe their hand spun yarns with some wool felting yarn from Brown Sheep. Handle treatments were up to them, store bought or handmade. Plus they had to add a special handmade accent. Then throw the whole thing into the washing machine for the felting process. They were allowed to control the felting, as much or as little as they preferred. Senior Angeline Tran did the beauty above.

Senior Olivia Hill did this glorious orange bag with brownish green hand spuns above, and senior Breeana Jhong did the breathtaking bag below.

Check out her entrelac design she knit into bag with her colorful hand spuns. And below, check out the tedious seed and bugle beading she incorporated. And then how cute is the sweet little felt ball she made to attach to the zipper of her lining. as you can see, all the girls came up with beautiful pieces.

I'm so proud of you 3 for learning to spin on the wheel. I know it was hard but all of you hung in there and conquered it! For EXTRA CREDIT: On a brown piece of paper, cut into the shape of a bag, write the name of student you feel designed the coolest bag from the 3 above. On the other side of the paper put your name and period. Hand to me when you walk in door tomorrow :)

Audrey Pulido - Student Artist

I'm very tardy in posting senior Audrey Pulido's bag from 1st quarter, but better late then never I guess. This was a really labor intensive piece that Audrey, who is a 3rd year 3-d art student, started the year with. I gave her some white blue-faced leicester wool roving that she dyed with food color, and while doing that she learned to spin yarn on the spinning wheel. I then had her spin and ply her dyed roving (all the pink fiber you see in the bag)), then she designed and knit up this bag, needle felted the flower, and lined the entire piece after she washing machine felted it so it would shrink and be stronger. Phew! Lots of work. But look at what she learned and created. Remarkable piece Audrey.