The Touchwood Project

Be lazy, recycle

Why work hard to make something from scratch when you can be lazy and reuse someone else’s stuff?

Today we’re going to be recycling an old sweater into a fabulous felted bag, all ready to wrap and present with a flourish to your Aunt Rebecca or best friend Steph.

Time to make:

3 hours

Materials needed:

• old woolen sweater (acrylic and other synthetics won’t work so check the label)
• scissors
• needle and thread or sewing machine
• embroidery thread
• embroidery or large sewing needle

Original project from:

Skills needed (if you don’t already know them, you’ll learn right here)

• How to sew a seam

What to watch while you make this

Like the right glass of wine improves your meal, the right film makes a craft project that much better. Since these projects can take some time, watching a great show while you’re doing it adds to the fun.

So for every Christmas gift project, I’ll also recommend a film, TV show or audiobook which fits into the theme of the project.

Recommendation: Being Erica, Season 1, currently on Channel 4 in the UK, and Soapnet in the US.

Being Erica is about a 30-something who’s given an extraordinary chance to do over the events in her life she most regrets. Each episode sees Erica going back in time into her past to try to set right something and make her life better now.

Theme: Going back to the old to become something new. That’s just what we’re doing with the old sweater to new bag.

Here’s a quick preview:

Felting the sweater

First, find an old woolen sweater, one you don’t, or someone you know doesn’t, wear anymore.

Or try a charity shop and wade through the old lady and old gents’ sweaters.

Now we’re going to do a neat little trick to it to transform it something your aunt or good friend would love for Christmas. Felting.

Once you’ve gotten your old sweater, squeeze a few bursts of dishwashing liquid (or detergent if you don’t have any dishwashing liquid) onto the sweater.

Break a sacred rule

Never put your woolens in hot water.

Except for today. Break the rules and throw your slightly gooey sweater into the washer and turn to the hottest wash you have.

I used “Boil wash”, which to be honest, I was a bit nervous about doing, but it came out great. A regular hot wash will probably work just fine too.

Let the cycle run, including the spin cycle.

When you take it out, it will have shrunk magically to about half the size. You shouldn’t see any stitches — it should all be a fuzzy mass. If it’s not, put it through the cycle again.

Whip out the scissors

Time to cut up your sweater. You’re going to remove the collar and sleeves, so that it looks like this when you’re done:

Perfection is for machines, mistakes show you care

Cutting up a sweater for the first time caused me a bit of anxiety. It seemed so permanent, and what if I cut it wrong or something?

I find I often worry like this when I’m learning something new, whether it’s cooking or playing my violin or riding a bicycle. I’m afraid I’ll mess everything up, I’ll ruin something or somehow hold other people back.

Or I worry I’ll make something and the person I give it to won’t like it because it’s a few million mistakes in it.

The problem with that thinking is that it’s kept me from doing a lot of stuff and I think it keeps a lot of other people from doing stuff too. I didn’t know how to cook so I never did and I made do instead with a lot of macaroni and cheese, pizza and Ben & Jerry’s.

The other problem is that something with no mistakes in it, something that’s perfect, looks just like something you’d buy at Ikea or H&M.

Perfection comes mostly from machines, not real people, and I like to think that when I give someone something with a few mistakes in it, they’re reminded of how hard I tried, of how much time and effort I put into it just for them.

So if you make a mistake or 100 on this project, consider just leaving it as a nice reminder of your gift’s handmade provenance.

Sew seams around the top edges

If you’ve got a sewing machine and know how to use it, then sew a simple straight stitch about 1/4 inch from the edge along the top. This should help reinforce the fabric.

What if I don’t have a machine or know how to sew with one?

If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can often get older models for free on Freecycle or Freegle, which is how I got mine. Or ask to borrow a friend’s or a family member’s machine.

Once you get a hold of a machine, it’s really easy to sew the simple line you need for this project, so it’s worth taking the time to learn.

A good place to start is “The Basic Sewing Lesson Class 1″, which will show you all the basics to getting started with a sewing machine.

How to sew a straight stitch by hand

Another option is to sew the seams by hand. Here’s a good video tutorial showing how:

Sew up the bottom of the bag

Now you’re going to sew up the bottom of the sweater. In Alterknits, she shows sewing right across the bottom of the bag on the outside. I used a zigzag stitch for extra reinforcement.

You could just use a straight stitch here, particularly if you double up the thread for added strength.

This is what mine looked like:

I thought this looked ugly, so I redid it.

Alternative: the I-shape seam

Many bags, if you look at the bottom, have this kind of seam. It looks like a long capital “I” turned on its side.

This is a stronger, more finished-looking seam.

Here’s how to do it.

Turn your fabric inside out. Sew both layers together using a zigzag (or straight stitch if you’re sewing by hand).

Fold the fabric at one end to create a triangle shape.

Then sew across each side like so:

Now on to the handles.

Sewing the handles

To make the handles, fold over the fabric and hold it in your hand. This way, you can see how far down you need to sew to keep the handle folded over.

Then you sew the two pieces together, about 2 1/2 inches on either side or 5 inches overall.

Since the fabric is so thick, I used embroidery thread and a big needle to do this, but you don’t need to.  I happen to have a bunch of embroidery thread because I got suckered in by all the pretty colours in a job lot selling for next to nothing on eBay.

And you’re done!

Optional: add a back pocket

I wanted to add a bit of the Fair Isle pattern back to the bag, so I added a back pocket made out of the leftover pieces from the neckline.

I just sewed another straight seam using embroidery thread and needle.

Now here’s the finished product, which I think I’ll give to my sister-in-law to gather her eggs in the morning with.

This side shows the buttons:

The other side with the pocket:

Done!

Made this project?

Share pictures of your project here:

Your feedback on the tutorial

My goal is to help more people make their own Christmas presents and not put it off till next year, when it’s more convenient.

I’m hoping by making this project and the others I’ll be doing in the Frugal and Green Christmas Gifts series, people who might feel nervous or reluctant to make their own gifts actually give it a go.

So did I give enough information? Too much? How could I improve it?

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Tags: Christmas, Environment, frugal

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