30 minutes to a recycled sweater bag
Last week I went pawing through the Goodwill Bins with my friend Sarah and came up with several colorful sweaters ripe for felting. They were just crying out to be made into handbags, and so they were. I thought I’d share the process for those who want to give it a go.
1. Find a sweater that will felt when washed. It should be as close to 100% wool as possible. Gap sweaters are especially good for this project, since they’re often stripy, colorful, and woolly like the pink multicolored one I used. The white sparkle-embellished sweater I used was angora, mohair, and wool, and did not felt as much so resulted in a less structured bag.
2. Wash the sweater in a hot sudsy wash and run through the hot dryer until completely dry.
3. Cut into two layers, halter shaped, as follows: If desired, cut the bottom band of the sweater completely off. Cutting through two layers of sweater at once, cut a line along each side of the body, close to the seam. Following the sleeve line, continue to cut the sleeves off as well. You’ll have two pieces of sweater. Trim so that the halter shape is steep.
4. Turn the sweater inside out, or lay pieces with right sides facing, and starting at one armpit stitch down the side, across the bottom, and up to the other armpit.
5. Still with right sides together, sew the collar front and back together, stitching across twice or more to make a firm handle.
6. Turn the sweater rightside out. You now have a basic bag, stitched around the sides and bottom and at the top of the handle, with two large and rather floppy side openings.
7. Turn under the raw edges around each handle opening and topstitch.
8. Turn them under again and hand stitch with a coordinating thread and large tapestry needle. The bag is finished! Mine took 30 minutes.
To make a flower using the bottom band from either the front or back of the sweater, thread a large tapestry needle, and knot the thread leaving several inches of thread hanging before your knot. Lay the sweater band out horizontally and starting with one short side, make a z-fold and run the needle through it. Pull tight. This is your flower center.
Now start wrapping the band around that center, keeping it tight and running the thread through every few wraps. Once you have rolled up the entire sweater band finish it by pulling the thread through one last time and knotting it together with the hanging thread from where you started. Knot tightly several times.
Attach to the bag and fold down the last outer wrap to make a stylish petal. Wool that is tightly felted won’t fray, so you can simply cut some leaves or other embellishments from the sleeves to add alongside.
May 24th, 2006 at 4:59 am
What an awesome idea! I love these… Time to get to the thrift store.
May 24th, 2006 at 5:50 am
Love this idea. Thanks.
May 24th, 2006 at 8:17 am
Love it, nice work!
May 24th, 2006 at 8:29 am
Ding! Dang! Adorable! bags. Awesome creativity!!
May 24th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Lovely!
May 24th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
this looks awesome!
and great clear instructions
for someone like me
who needs
great clear instructions
:)
May 24th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
These are beautiful! Lovely work.
May 24th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
Great idea! I have a bunch of sweaters that I don’t have to throw out anymore!
May 24th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Awesome! Great idea. And great choices of sweaters. Thanks for sharing the how-to!!
May 25th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
love this tutorial, great colours and pattern
May 26th, 2006 at 10:18 am
[...] Published May 25th, 2006 in DIY, for her Apparently, I’m on a make-your-own-bags kick. Whipup has a simple, easy tutorial to make a cute bag out of last year’s ugly sweater. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
May 26th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Quick Felting Craft…
…
May 28th, 2006 at 3:47 am
[...] whipup.net (tags: howto recycled diy crafts sweater tutorial) [...]
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:45 pm
thank you so much, they are very nice!!!!
June 15th, 2006 at 3:44 am
Oh the one with the faces is just DIVINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now why couldn’t that have been in MY thrift store? Great catch!
July 4th, 2006 at 5:05 am
[...] whipup.net Find a sweater that will felt when washed. It should be as close to 100% wool as possible. Gap sweaters are especially good for this project, since they re often stripy, colorful, and woolly like [...]
October 11th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Look, I made one!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hey-helen/266617121/
November 1st, 2006 at 1:43 am
I’m so impressed! How very, utterly clever!
December 19th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Thanks for the great idea:)
January 18th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
This is great!
March 15th, 2007 at 4:54 am
What a colorful, clear and fun tutorial, I’ll have to give this a try. Actually, my teen daughter would love it.
June 27th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
i love these bags.. i am sure i have a couple of old jumpers to cut up …or recycle should i say … happy days margie
December 11th, 2007 at 2:52 am
[...] Or use this tutorial from Whip Up, or these instructions from Canadian Living to invent a felted [...]
January 7th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
this is a great idea for all those sweaters that have been ruined by washing when they should have not been this is a great rainy day project for my daughters and me
September 27th, 2008 at 3:49 am
wew. nice.
i’ll try it at home, hho :)
October 26th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I am going to my quilting room to give this a try. I have made 4 bags from recycled wool sweaters. What a fun way to spend the chilly days here in Alaska. How do I make a blog to show my crafting and help there. I love crafting ideas and sharing them is twice as nice!
Have fun felting!
Sunshine
November 18th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
[...] 30 minutes to a recycled sweater bag [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
[...] a reusable bag from a recycled sweater in 30 minutes (by Whip Up). The bonus with this project is that your bag will look like it’s from a [...]