Felted Bag and Bottle Cozy
By Jane Patrick
This cute felted bag is perfect for carrying just
the essentials. The matching bottle cozy adds a touch of fun to the ensemble.
This project is also very economical—all your woven fabric is used. We used a School Loom, but you can also weave on a rigid heddle loom following the project specs below.
Project Specs for Rigid Heddle version
The warp should be about 13" wide
in a 5-dent reed. A two-yard-long warp should be ample, allowing for loom waste
and some space between woven sections.
Warp: 66 ends, 2 yards long, 66 yards
each of two colors.
Weft: 38 yards each of two colors for one woven section; 76
yards of each color for the two woven sections. You'll need additional yarn for twisted cord.
Weave 18½", leave a space, weave another 18½". Complete stitching the cord to the bag. Stitch across the opening to close it up. Embellish the bag flap with a large decorative button and tassel, several small buttons, or whatever you dream up.
What You'll Need
-
two skeins of worsted weight wool yarn, in two different colors. We used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride (190 yards/skein), but you can use any worsted weight wool yarn that will felt nicely (no superwash yarn).
-
two shuttles
-
The Incredible Rope Machine
Materials
Equipment
Directions
Warping and Weaving
- Warp the School Loom, starting with two ends of one color, then two ends
of the second color. Alternate 2 ends of each color across the loom.
- Weave a balanced plain weave at 5 picks per inch, alternating two picks of one color with two picks of the other color. Weave until you have woven the full length of the School Loom. When you finish, remove the piece from the loom and repeat the process to make a second piece of fabric. Machine wash on the gentle cycle or handwash your fabric to felt it. If you machinewash, check frequently to see how much felting has happened. When your fabric pieces measure approximately 8¾" x 11¾", you’re done. Roll in a towel to squeeze out the water and let the pieces dry flat.
Assemble the Bag
- Select the felted fabric with the nicest edges – this will be the bag
flap. Take the other piece of fabric and cut a piece 7" x 8¾". Save
the remaining piece for your water bottle cozy. Place your uncut fabric on a
table, then layer the cut piece on top, matching the uncut ends together. Machine
or hand- stitch around the edges, about 1/4" from the edge. Leave a small opening
at the bottom of the bag. Using one (or both) of your yarns, make a twisted cord
about 70" long. Insert the uncut end of your cord into the small opening
left in the stitching. Starting at the opening and working around the bag to
the cut edge, handstitch the cord to the bag using ladder stitch. Measure about
30" to leave free for the strap, then handstitch from the opposite side
around to the opening at the bottom.
If you have more than a ½" or so of cord left, or if you have a bumpy knot in the end of the cord, mark the point where the cord will be cut with a pin or marking pen. Using regular sewing thread, stitch through the cord just before the mark, wrap the end tightly several times, and stitch through the cord again several times to ensure it won’t unravel. Cut off the extra cord, then insert the end of the cord into the opening.
Assemble the Water Bottle Cozy
Take your leftover strip of felted fabric and overlap the edges to fit your bottle then hand or machine stitch. Embellish the top and bottom edges of the cozy by crocheting with one of your yarns. A single crochet stitch covers the cut edge and gives a nice finish. If you don’t crochet, consider making more twisted cord to finish the edges, using a purchased ribbon as a binding, or leave plain.