Use Shrunken Wool Sweaters to Make a Quilt

 Hello Readers. Sometimes accidents happen, wool goes in the washer and/or dryer and it shrinks down to child size. It gets thicker and stiffer. What can you do? I have an idea. Wool is very warm and cozy, even shrunken wool, let's cut up some sweaters and make an easy beginner kind of quilt.

Use those shrunken sweaters, don't throw them away!

 

I used my sharpest scissors for all my cutting.

I started by cutting my sweaters into pieces of the same size. I cut rectangles, approximately 8' by 12', and smaller rectangles that were 4' by 8'. 

I had 6 sweaters. I have been collecting them for a while. I cut out all my pieces with very sharp scissors. (The wool is thicker and tougher to cut when it shrinks.) I tried to keep them all the same size. I tried not to stretch or pull the sweaters as I cut them. They will give and stretch because they are knits. 

I spread out my pieces so I could see what I had. I wanted the colors to be spread out all through the quilt. I had more of some colors and less of others. I tried not to over-think the arrangement but I wanted the pieces in rows that were the same length.

I started sewing the pieces together. This is a lot of sewing, I needed a sewing machine, needles and neutral thread. I sewed the 8' sides together with the right sides facing each other. Some of the sweaters had a definite right side and some looked the same on each side. 

I put piece after piece together to make a long row. I sewed row after row. Until I used all my pieces. I broke quite a few needles on this project so I am glad I had some extras on-hand.

It started to get more difficult now. I sewed the rows together. I put the right sides together and stitched straight down the edges. When all the rows are connected, the quilt gets heavier. I stitched with a straight stitch and sewed slowly without pulling or stretching the pieces.

I spread it n the floor to see all my rows connected. 

 

This is what the back of the quilt looks like. It's not pretty.
 

I wanted to cover the back of the quilt. I had this large pieces of fabric in my stash. It was large enough to equal the quilt. I sewed it to the top of the quilt.

 

 I sewed all around the edge of the quilt connecting the quilt to the fabric.

 

 I left and opening to turn the quilt right-side out when I was done. When the quilt was right-side out, the fabric hid the stitching in between the quilt and the fabric.  

I wanted to smooth out the thick edges, I stitched all around the quilt. That would keep the edges neat and help define the border of the quilt. 

I sewed all the way around the quilt so that the edges more defined, but you can see the fabric layer peeking out fro the back of the quilt at the top. The layers have shifted around a little because they are so connected. I just needed to stabilize or connect the center of the quilt. 

I used some very narrow ribbon for this. 

 

I used a large embroidery needle to sew under and back on top of the sweater layer and the fabric layer. I did this in the center of each quilt piece.

 

I tied the ribbon in a knot. Connecting the layers together. If they are not connected like this the quilt and fabric layers will shift around. 

 

I made sure the knot was tied tight. 

 

I cut off the excess and left about an inch of the ribbon attached to the knot.

 

Here is a close up. You can see I left the pockets/seams/etc. attached to my wool squares. I didn't want to pretend this wasn't made from old sweaters, I wanted to embrace that.  

 

This is going to be cozy as winter comes to an end. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

***Year End Update***-This blanket is on my sofa right now. It is really warm and cozy for watching a movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Felted Wool Knot Bag

 Hello Readers. It is February and for me that means red and pink refashions all month in honor of Valentine's Day. Today's post is a felted wool bag made from a red jacket.

 

Before and after. 

 

 

This little red and black coat was cute but there was a lot of applique details on it and it felt like a little too much. 

 

I had an idea when I saw this jacket. I didn't want a jacket.  I wanted to make something else out of the wool material. To do that I first needed to wash it in hot water. I know what you are thinking. "You can't put wool in the washer! It will shrink!" Well, it will shrink but that was what I wanted.

The weave of the wool was thicker and tighter after I washed it. That was perfect. I wanted to cut it up. When you shrink wool like this it doesn't fray anymore. It is great to work with. It is like felt. They call it "felted" wool.

 

I cut the lining away and got just the wool.

I wanted to make a little red bag and this wool would be perfect. This style bag is commonly referred to online as a "Japanese Knot Bag". I could not find a lot of information about it's origins. There are a lot of free patterns online if you want to make your own.

I also cut the pockets off the coat. I was going to use those too. 

I put all my pieces together and sewed them all together. 

My new red bag was finished. It turned out so cute. Felted wool is really easy to work with. I like this bag because it does not need any hardware, The long handle slips into the short handle and that keeps it closed.

 

It goes with all the red refashions I have done this month. 

 

 I have made a bag from a felted wool sweater before. It is one of my favorite winter bags. The soft wool makes very comfortable shoulder straps. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*Year End Note From Chickie- I liked this bag a lot. It isn't big enough for all the stuff I carry every day but I love it for when I only carry the basics.