• Sturdy fabric to use for base – wool, felt, fleece, denim, natural loose weaves
• Poly silk
• Sheer ribbon
• Yarn
• Wool rovings
• Felting machine
• Needles
• Thread
• Additional embellishments - ceramic, glass, shells, Glamour Gems, buttons, old jewelry, brooches, etc.

Directions:

1. 
   An easy way to start is to find an inspiration swatch of material. It can be a corner from an old silk scarf or a bit of quilting cotton. Felt it onto your base. I cut out some ferns from a piece of cotton.
   
   
   
   
2. 
   After a ‘base coat’ of finely pulled apart wool rovings, (powder  blue coming off the back) I started adding a strip of purple poly silk (yes, poly silk worked!) and ran a few tracks right down the center gathering the strip as I went. Another embellishment was a gathered piece of sheer ribbon into a circle and felted only in the center making a flower. If you use wired ribbon, remember to remove the wire.
   
   
   
3. 
   This addition was a ½” strand of wool rovings wrapped with yarn.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. 
   This is a 1 ½” cut of wool roving straight across the width.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. 
   Carefully pull the cut piece around in a circle and felt in the center. Instant wispy flower.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. 
   This sheer satin edged ribbon scrunched up when I felted it for a cool textural effect.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. 
   You can simply lay yarns on the surface and felt them into the base to make a knobby knitted look.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. 
   When you’re happy with the results, cut out along the outline that you initially drew.
   
   
9. Cut a lining ½” larger all the way around. Clip along all the curves and press seam allowance towards the inside until the lining is the same outline as the purse with all raw edges pressed to inside.
   
   
10. Fold up the front flap and pin all four layers in place. Use a 2.5 or 3.0 zig-zag to secure the layers all the way around the entire purse.
    
    
11. Repeat the technique you liked best on a strap in the length that suits you.  Hand sew the strap in place on both sides of the top flap.
    
    
12. 
    Add beads, buttons, Glamour Gems, shells or old jewelry, whatever makes your heart sing. I sewed beads along the edge of the top flap, added beads to the “flower” centers and chose a large round stone wrapped with ribbon for the closure. Experiment, express yourself, and excite your creativity! You can do it!

Tips for Successful Felting:

•  Avoid pulling out your work area from under the needles until the needles completely stop (there’s an unexpected slow down process so be prepared to wait a few seconds)
• Do not use heavy iron-on interfacing to stabilize your base piece!  The ‘sticky stuff’ will accumulate on your five barbed needles and  give you grief (perhaps breaking the needles and making felting difficult)
• Do not try to felt anything super thick or an excessive mound of yarn that you have to squish under the needle guard (these needles are not inexpensive so take care to preserve them)
• Before you change a needle, place a piece of paper over the needle holes on the flatbed of the machine. After loosening the hex screw, when the needle slips out, you do not want to lose it in the machine base! (trust me, I lost one before I thought of this tip)
• Order extra needles with your machine. It takes a little experimenting to get the felting dance right and you may break a few needles until your timing is in synch. The machine comes with five extra needles but I needed about ten more while working on the tablecloth/jacket project as I had no tips and learned the trial and error way. 
  

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