58. Easy Felt Eyeglass Case

MATERIALS

One piece of felt (or felted fleece)
needle
scissors
thread or embroidery floss
eyeglass case pattern (PDF)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Print out the eyeglass case pattern, making sure not to reduce the size when printing.
   
2. Using the eyeglass case pattern, cut out your piece of felt
   
3. Fold the felt in half, lining up all edges
   
4. blanket stitch the edges, sewing the side and bottom edges together, and leaving the top open:
   
   BLANKET STITCH INSTRUCTIONS:
   
   1. Stitch the thread into the layers of felt so that it can't be seen.
      
   2. Push the needle out of the felt and below the edge of the eyeglass case on the outside.
      
   3. Bring the thread up and around the cut edge to the opposite side and push the needle in.
      
   4. Push the needle straight up toward the top edge and through the middle of the thread.
      
   5. Move the needle over however wide you want your stitches to be and push the needle straight down into the top edge and back out the outside 1/2 inch down. Reapeat steps 3-5 until you have the complete edge stitched in the blanket stitch.
      
      

      

Source: Owning-Alpaca.com

49. Felt Sewing Book

MATERIALS

One 5 x 7 1/2" piece of Heavy felt
button
Three, 4 3/4 x 7 1/4" pieces of Lightweight felt
needle & thread

Sewing kit items
extra buttons
needles
pins

INSTRUCTIONS

When clothes need mending, reach for this book—its felt pages are designed to keep sewing supplies organized. Devote one page to extra buttons that come with garments, one to pins, and another to needles (pre-threaded with your most-used colors).


1. To make the cover, cut a piece of heavy felt into a 5-by-7 1/2-inch rectangle. Sew a button halfway up one short end, 1/4 inch in from edge. Make the tab closure by cutting a 1 1/2-by 2-inch strip of heavy felt, rounding it at one end. Sew the straight end of the tab to the end of the cover opposite the button, halfway up the cover and 1/8 inch in from the edge; make a slit in the rounded end of tab to serve as a buttonhole.
   
   
2. For the pages, cut three 4 3/4-by-7 1/4-inch pieces of lightweight felt. Fold each page in half, and iron along the crease. Open the cover, and center the opened pages on top. Close book, and use a blanket stitch to bind cover with pages, 1/2 inch in from folded edge.
   
   
3. To make the blanket-stitch binding, you’ll need an upholstery needle and embroidery floss. Hold the book in your lap with the fold at your waist, and start in the left-hand corner: Draw floss out through the fold from inside the book. Insert needle down into fabric, 1/2 inch up from fold, 3/8 inch in from edge; bring it out at the edge, as shown, keeping the floss loop under the needle. (See illustration below.) Continue stitching, working from left to right, until book is bound.
   

   

Source: Martha Stewart

34. Felted Wool Mittens

Photo by londonne.

Felting wool means shrinking it—on purpose! While results will vary from one type of wool to another, most will shrink quite dramatically and take on a tighterfeeling, felt-like finish. The key is, you must use 100% WOOL fabric. Grab a few old all-wool sweaters from your closet or a second-hand store—the kind with holes in the elbows, or stretched out edges. With just a little effort, you can transform an "undesirable" into a pair of funky (and functional!) mittens. Here's how.

MATERIALS

At least one old 100% wool sweater (as long as you're going to the effort, you might as well felt a few - up to four or five will fit in the washing machine)

A bit of dishwasher detergent (not dish soap!)

Pattern tracing material

J & P Coats embroidery floss or Red Heart Yarn

INSTRUCTIONS

Before You Sew:

Loosely arrange the sweaters in the washing machine. Add a small amount (maybe 1/8 - 1/4 cup) of dishwashing detergent, then fill the machine using a "hot water wash/cold water rinse" cycle.

Machine dry the sweaters on the hottest temperature setting.

Ready, Set, Sew:

Make a mitten pattern by tracing your own hand (or someone else's) onto pattern tracing material.

Lay out the pattern on your felted sweater, playing with placement until you find just the right look. Sweaters with multi-colored designs or special stitches, like cable knits, offer lots of possibilities—enjoy! You can also utilize the ribbing on a sweater's lower edge, though don't expect it to be particularly functional. Once the sweater is felted, much of the stretch is long gone. So you'll find these mittens aren't snug fitting. But they are very cool—and warm at the same time!

Cut two mittens on a double-layer of fabric. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, stitch each set together along the outer edge using a straight running stitch, whipstitch or blanket stitch. Perfect stitches NOT required. You can also machine stitch using a long stitch length (5.0mm).

To do the running stitch, use yarn or heavy thread like embroidery floss—all strands in the skein—and a large-eyed needle. Then just run the needle in and out of the fabric.

If desired, add a final row of the running stitches around the "cuff" area, gathering slightly and finishing with a bow. Or add button embellishments—whatever your pleasure.

Source: SYSF