Felted Sweater Purse

Chary found an adorable but tiny sweater. It was too small, but she was determined to figure out a way to "wear it"...so she cut it up and turned it into a purse. In this project, she takes another old sweater and makes a bumblebee bag.

Materials:

sweater
scissors
telephone wire
yarn
embellishments

Steps:

1. Cut the sweater apart. You'll use one sleeve for the two straps (include the finished edge) and one sleeve for the depth of the purse's body ("the inner sanctum"), also including the finished edge. The bottom of the sweater, where the edges are finished, makes the front and back of the purse.

2. Sew the body to the inner sanctum, wrong sides together. Line up the finished edges on the top of the front, and the top of the strip. Sew down and around the corner, stopping a couple inches before the end of the strip. Repeat with the next strip, again stopping short of the end. Sew the two loose ends of the strips together so they will lay flat against the front. Complete the seam between the inner sanctum and the front of the body. Attach the back in one long seam.

4. To coil the handle: Roll each handle like a burrito, and pin in place. Cut a piece of telephone wire four times the length of the handle. Beginning at one end of roll, wrap the wire firmly down the handle, looping a couple times at the bottom before wrapping back up to the top again (figure B). Thread wire end through sweater at top, and knot or spiral to finish off.

5. Attach handles. Use yarn of same color as purse body to sew the four ends of the handles to the top of each side of bag (figure C).

6. Embellish freely! Use pom-pom bumblebees (figure D); sweater scraps cut into flowers, critters, or random shapes; buttons tied on with bits of telephone wire, etc.

Website: www.revivalicious.com