First Make Your Felt - Project 1 Felted Needle Case

 I'm due to give a series of face to face workshops this year so I have been busy preparing the workshop notes and instruction sheets.

Each workshop is designed  for beginner feltmakers and focuses on making a flat sheet of felt so that learners understand the technique before moving onto more complicated projects.

What can you make with one flat sheet of felt?

Well the answer is suprisingly varied. I'll be concentrating on teaching the technique of feltmaking but I know that learners want to have an "object" to display at the end of each tutorial.

Here is my list:

Project 1 - Felted Needle Case

Project 2 - Placemats/coasters

Project 3 - Diary cover

Project 4 - Pincushion

Project 5 - Framed artwork

In this blogpost I am not going to explain how to make a piece of felt - but I will include instructions for the first project - the felted needle case

1.     First Make your felt

Project 1 -Felted needle case

Materials Required

Approx. 35gms merino roving in your choice of colour

Embellishments: scraps of silk, viscose, wool to complement colour of roving

50 cms fine satin ribbon

2x small beads (ribbon must fit through hole in bead)

Small piece cardstock (15cm x 8 cm)

Crochet cotton

Sewing cotton

Equipment Required

Sewing Needle

Woolen darning needle

Scissors

Instructions:

1.     Lay out roving 55cm x 35cm, three layers in perpendicular layout

2.     Wet down. On one half lay out embellishments. Leave the other half clear. The embellishment side will be the outer case and the clear side will be the pages inside the case

3.     Felt as normal and then full until your piece measures 20cm x 35cm

4.     Rinse, roll in dry towel to absorb moisture, spread out and allow to dry.

5.     When the felt is dry cut two pieces of cardstock 7.5 x 8 cm

6.     From the embellished side cut two rectangles (17cm x 9 cm) and two pieces of flat felt (16cm x 8 cm). You will now have four rectangles (2x embellishment, 2x flat felt)

7.     Cut the ribbon in half (2x 25cm each). Thread a bead on each piece and secure with a knot.

8. Lay the free end of one ribbon on to the wrong side of one of the embellished rectangles, half way down the short side. Stitch in place with needle and sewing cotton. Repeat with the other ribbon

 9.    Lay the two pieces of card on top of the wrong side of the embellished rectangle      leaving a small border around the edge and a gap in the middle.

10. Lay the second embellished rectangle over the carboard with the right side facing out. Pin in place and blanket stitch all the way around both rectangles, completely enclosing the cardboard, using the crochet cotton and darning needle. You have now created the needle case cover with a ribbon tie

11.  Lay the two pieces of flat felt directly on top of one of the embellished sides. These are the leaves of your needle book. Using the crochet cotton and darning needle stitch a running stitch through the middle of the needle book, stitching through all the layers. This forms the “spine” of your book.

12.   Fold your book in half and press with a steam iron. Trim any of the pages that protrude. Tie the ribbon into a bow to hold the case together. Fill with needles, pins etc

If you make this project or have any questions please share with me - I'd like to know if you found the instructions easy to follow and how I could improve them.