The Stitch Class: Pigs and Hares and a purse too.

Hello there, nice to see you again!

A strange title, I hear you say? Well, last year at the Woolfest, I bought a fantastic book from the very talented Jenny Barnett,( www.jennybarnett.co.uk). She makes the cutest needlefelted animals. I decided to have a go at the hare from the instructions in the book (VERY clear instructions, by the way!). Here's the result:

Those ears are like Dumbo's

A very coy looking hare.

I showed my friend the hare. She asked if I could do her a pig, so I thought I'd have a go. I used Merino wool that I'd already dyed with Landscape dyes (from Wingham Woolwork) and added very small wisps of beige for mud splatters, and darker pink for nostrils. See what you think...

A little curly tail

A curious angle to the head.

Ears nearly as big as the Hare's

I only stabbed my fingers twice, which I thought was pretty good going, given how vicious the felting needles are! If you fancy having a go at needlefelting, I'd recommend Jenny Barnett's book "Needle Felting Workshops With Jenny Barnett"

Last week I promised a mini tutorial on purse making, so here goes - bear with me, it's quite long!

Fabric requirements: Outer fabric - 1 fat quarter

Lining fabric - 1 fat quarter

fusible fleece to fit pattern ( this will depend on your bag frame).

Metal purse frame.

Strong glue - I use Guttermann HT2

1. I used a 6" frame. Draw round the inside of the purse frame, marking the centre point at the top.

Pivot the frame from the corner out, in this case about 2". This will vary with the size of your bag - a smaller frame needs less pivoting - a larger one needs more! Mark the bottom of the hinge.

3. Add 3/8" to the line.

Draw the side seam line straight down. In this case I used 6".

5. Fold your pattern on that centre mark you made earlier, and cut the pattern out. Using the pattern, cut out two pieces of fusible fleece.

You can see the two different sides of the fusible fleece. The dotty side is the adhesive side.

7. Put the fleece adhesive side UP and the wrong side of the outer fabric on top of it. Iron the right side of the outer fabric to fuse the fleece to it. *****NEVER iron the dotty side of the fleece or you'll ruin your iron (and yes, I've done it!)

Cut out two purse pieces from your lining fabric

Pin the outer / fleece combo pieces RIGHT SIDES together.

10.

Stitch together round the 3 sides as shown. Use a 1/4" seam

11.

Trim the corners.

12.

Push the corners out flat by matching up the side seam with the bottom seam. Mark a 1" line in from the edge. Do this on both sides. A permanent marker works well, as does a pencil.

13.

Pin so the seams don't go walkabout! (yes, I've done that too, and ended up with a wonky purse!)

14.

Stitch on the lines you've drawn.

For the uninitiated, this is called sugar bagging, and allows the purse to have some depth and to sit flat. So now you know!

It sometimes helps to match the base and side seams together by putting a pin through one seam then into the other.

16. Repeat steps 9- 14 with the lining fabric.

17.

Turn the lining the right way out. Leave the outer purse inside out. Put the lining into the outer purse as shown. the right side of the lining will be up against the right side of the outer purse.

18.

Pin together round the top. Put a pin in horizontally to show where you'll leave a gap.

19.

Sew round the top edge of the purse with a 1/4" seam. Leave a gap of about 2". Do a small reverse stitch at the beginning and the end to stop it coming undone in the next step.

20.

Turn the purse right sides out through the gap. CAREFULLY !

21.

If it's really creased, you can carefully press each side by putting a towel into the purse and pressing the iron over it gently.

22.

Fold the open edges in, taking care to keep the edge straight. Stitch close to the edge so that it will be hidden in the frame.

23.

Put a piece of tape round both top edges of the frame and mark the centre point on them.

24.

Put a pin in both sides of the purse to show the centre point too. This pin is a bit camouflaged, but has an orange tip, if you look carefully!

25.

Now comes the messy bit. Firstly, a warning - no, not Health & Safety, just common sense, thank you very much! This glue is VERY smelly, so follow the instructions and get your windows open. Yes, really! Obviously don't leave it where your little darlings can reach or you'll have a very messy house and probably very sickly kids. Work quickly.

Run a bead of glue round the inside of both halves of the frame and also the top and sides of the fabric purse (the opening). I use more on the frame and less on the fabric, but that's probably me being miserly!

Leave to go tacky - about 5 - 10 mins depending on how warm your room is.

26. Now, working on the top first, push the fabric firmly into the frame, matching up your centre point marks. Repeat on both sections on the frame. Next, work on the sides of the purse. Really push firmly. I find it useful to have an old spoon handle or such to help with the pushing. Currently, I'm using a plant label! You might have to keep pushing, particularly when you get to the hinge area. Excess glue can be scratched off with a fingernail.