Boxes, Little Boxes!

I love boxes!

Little, big or medium, the linear pleasure of being able to put things away and put lids on and then create neat little forts of organized tidiness makes some corner of my inner OCD self warm and happy!

So , of course, I had to try and make some out of felt!

Because of the limited size of the felt I have (as well as the limited ability to get any more once I use it up!) the boxes had to be small. The first one I tried was from How About Orange which is really good and uncomplicated. And this would probably have been where I stopped looking except I couldn't get my printer to copy out the template to scale! I tried working it out but it wasn't what I was looking for. Partial success but not quite close enough!

See? I couldn't get the lid tight enough. I struggled with the printer, trying to wrap my numerically illiterate brain around percentages (Failed!) and finally gave up and started looking again.

I found a template for a paper exploding box. I didn't even know that's what these things were called and after looking at it for a while, I was sure I could make something like it with my felt. So...off I went!

I cut out 2 layers of felt for the outer layer and the inner layer, that way I could hide any untidy stitches between the layers and cut out the bottom template and the lid template. Then I running stitched around the square centre at the bottom and the lid so everything wouldn't move any more. Next, because the inner folds would need to fold inwards I cut the centres of the triangles (where the dotted line denotes fold lines) and re-sewed the edges together so the were permanently pointing inwards. I thought I was really clever as I sewed all the pieces together. It looked so nice! And then I tried to put the lid on the folded box...

I didn't like it! 

When I tried to fold it, all the flaps were either piling up against each other or pointing the wrong way so I had to sit back and think again. There had to be a way to line up the inner folds so it looked like a box instead of a screwed up piece of felt with a square hat!

I finally came up with a solution. I pierced the 2 opposite faces of the box with a skewer and sewed a flower over the hole and edged it with button hole stitch. Then I sewed 2 loops (the sort you use when you put a hook and loop on the top of a skirt to help close it as you do up the zip.) on the 2 inward pointing folds and then thread some thin cord through the loops and out the hole in the side and tied a knot in the two ends.

Now with both sides done I found that by pulling them up, the box developed a nice firm form and I could tip the sides up, place the lid on, wrap the cord over the top and tie it down. Viola! A felt box!

Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?? I can think of so many things I could use this for! A sewing needle caddy immediately springs to mind since it's made of felt. A box to hold a special gift. Something to hold thread bobbins in when stitching. And it's so embellish-able!

I enjoyed the details in this and having to adapt the original pattern to make the end result still useful as well as beautiful! And it's so pretty! Never a bad thing. So I decided to make another one, just to see if I'd worked out all the bugs in the assembly.

I really liked the impact of the navy against the red and the little pop of green at the thread holes. I thought I might have done some sashiko design on the top but I didn't really have the patience to slow down and do it. I wanted to finish!

I really like it, especially the beaded ends to the ties. I love details! I love anything glittery and clink-y. I've really enjoyed exploring this box form and now I have one more string to my bow for handmade gifts! Huzzah!

I think I need to give the felt a rest for a little bit though. My fingertips are sore and I'm covered in shredded bits of felt. In a fortnight we'll be going on holidays so I need to figure out what craft I'm taking with me. Especially anything that I can do to distract me on a 5 hour flight! 

What do any other crazy crafty's do on flights? 

See you later :)

Dx

Coin Purses and Felt!

Because I don't have enough mess, right??

But since I had the felt out already I thought I'd try some coin purses...but I didn't have the necessary zips required so I wanted something that I could just shut through a loop or a button...something easy!

                  I knew I'd find it if I looked!

Also I received a lovely order of felt squares in heaps of colours. It's awful but I'd forgotten I'd ordered them and I'll have to look up the order to figure out what the company was I ordered them from but they're perfect for these little purses. The felt is just a bit stiffer than the stuff I have which works great!

I got it!! The felt came from Little Blue Box is located in Perth, WA. I bought it off ebay.

This is the first one I played with before I got the new felt. And while I do like it (it's so cute!!) there were aspects I was sure would improve it. Firstly the two short sides where too low. Coins could (and did!) escape out of the purse in the rough and tumble world of my handbag. Not what I was aiming for, obviously. 

And as a brief side note, the die-cut flower shapes are from bettyoctopus on Etsy . Absolutely scrumptious little things and so many different varieties of shapes attainable depending on how you layer them!

So, now with the new stiffer felt I made some modifications to the original design and tried again!

I was really happy with this one! Even though I had to refine the process as I went along! The pattern was too big to cut out the design in one piece with one piece of felt so I retraced the purse into pieces. The front flap, the bottom flap, the rectangular bottom and the two short sides. Then I had to trace each shape on the felt I chose, twice. For an outer cover and an inner insert. Which meant I had to assemble it a different way to how I'd done the first one. I ended up sandwiching the four pieces of felt (joining two sides which included the inner and outer felt) with a tight running stitch. It actually looks really nice. You can see the layers of colour peeking through.

I also found that while the sides were now high enough, folding the thing down flat was almost impossible because the extra fabric kept wanting to fold over under the top flap when I buttoned it up. Fortunately I hadn't started the blanket stitch around the top edge yet. I found it I scooped out the middle of the short sides, it folded up much better. As you can see from the pic though, not yet perfect...but close!

 And now to the lasted edition! On top of all the other adjustments I'd made up to this point, I also slightly scooped out the rim of the bottom flap. And as you can see above, it folded up pretty much the way it was supposed to! No bump where there's obviously an excess of fabric. And it looks so damn cute!! Lovely bright happy colours! 

I've really enjoyed making these and will definitely be making more. But I thought you'd be interested in the process. Felt is such a wonderful forgiving material and it lends itself to so many beautiful things!

What do you think I should try next?

See you all later!

Dx

As the weather turns chilly...

Dear Daughter has begun to notice just how cold Canberra can be (and it's only Autumn!) and put in an order for some gloves but she wanted the convertable kind, Fingerless gloves with a flap that you can slip over them so they look like a pair of mittens. No problem! said I.

Have wanted to have a go making these so it was a perfect excuse and I found a lovely pattern off Ravelry for just the thing! I used 8ply which in retrospect is a bit heavy but they are lovely and warm and I wanted something in a pretty colour that would put up with indifferent sorting when doing the laundry. I'm not spending my time lovingly crafting a pair of woolen mittens only for them to get tossed in the wash with anything, including Army fatigues and coming out the size of a postage stamp! So Acrylic it was! Here are my results.

Aren't they lovely? And they are so snoodly warm! I hope she loves them. I put press studs on the back of the flap and the top of the wrist so when they're folded back they wont flap around and then I sewed a little felt flower over the press stud on the flap with a hole for the press stud to go through to make it look prettier.

It was a wonderful pattern too. If you're looking for something like this look on Ravelry for Broad Street Mittens by Janie Cortese. Very easy directions and not at all confusing, well, I didn't find them so anyway :)

I finished these a few days ago so this Monday, into the post they go. I hope her little fingertips will hold out until they get there.
Happy Knitting :)