We have talked a lot in the last two weeks about our food and the challenge it is to eat real food in today’s modern world of pre-packaged processed fare.
Today I am going to switch gears a little…
As important as food is to me I am not a foodie. I cook to sustain my family and I bake for health. As much as I enjoy making a great meal it does not nourish my soul. For that I do something else…
I create, I sew, I craft…when I cannot be out in the garden getting my hands dirty (my other great passion) I am upstairs in my sewing room making things, or painting things, or re-purposing things.
Today I am going to share something that I posted a few weeks ago on my blog. It is and old sweater that for less than four dollars and a couple of hours work I made into a brand new knitting bag.
The sweater purchased from a thrift store was a mens X-large that is felted (washed in hot and dried on hot twice until it shrunk to a large child’s size sweater…you know it felted when you can no longer see the stitches and it will not unravel when cut)
I paid $3.00 for the sweater…
I found two sweaters with this tag…lucky me!
Start by cutting off the sleeves just inside the arm-hole seams
Next cut at the neck…
I lined up a straight edge across the bottom of the armpits to make sure my neck cut would be as deep as my arm cuts.
Try to make the arm curves and the neck curves match…I had to fool with it a little after these pics to get them even.
These will be your handles
After you cuts are made shift the sweater around till the handles line up.
Next is the bottom of the bag…you don’t have to do this, you can just sew the bottom together straight away but I needed the extra room.
I used one of the sleeves I cut off for this. I made mine about 4 inches wide by the same length as the bottom of my sweater.
Turn your sweater inside out and at the bottom edge of the sweater pin your bottom piece, right sides together.
Now how does one fit a square cornered bottom piece into a curved sweater hem?
Well I put a little tuck in the corners of the bottom piece…all pointing in…to make it match up better to the sweater.
Stitch along the bottom where you pinned, feed the sweater into the machine. Don’t pull from the back it will stretch and warp the sweater.
Turn right side out.
Now you have a perfectly useful wool bag.
But…
when I noticed all those scraps I knew I just could not let them go to waste.
So I played around with them a little…
Hmmmm…maybe roses?
So I made a couple of roses by hand-stiching them as I wound them around
And if two were good…
Nine were better, with leaves to boot!
All made from the scraps and hand sewn on.
And what am I going to do with my newly created bag?
It is my new knitting bag!
I love the ribbing on the bottom…no hiding what this used to be!
There you have it…a thrift store sweater turned new rose knitting bag!
So everybody run…don’t walk…to your nearest thrift store and grab an armful of wool sweaters. Let loose your creative genius that I know is hiding in each of you!
Have fun!
Kim can also be found at the inadvertent farmer where she’s raising organic fruits, veggies, critters,kids, and…a camel!
This is absolutely AWESOME!!! You clever lady, you! Well done on a lovely bag and great tutorial. I’m putting on my running shoes now…
I made one similar but yours looks WAY nicer than mine! I left the top edge un-hemmed, etc. – so it won’t unravel? That is nice to know – I wasn’t sure. Thanks for the tip on how you sewed the bottom together – mine looked a bit odd!
LOVELY roses!
Oh man, this is just BRILLIANT!
I love making things from felted wool! I’ve been buying sweaters and saving them (I have my mom & my sister looking for them as well) because I want to make a felted wool quilt. I can’t wait will I have enough!
One year I made felted wool Christmas trees with tiny felted wool pine cones for decor, they’re so cute.
I’m saving up all my scraps and maybe someday I quilt! Kim
Almost didn’t open this post, so glad I did. That is really nice.
What a fantastic tutorial! Love the little flowers…how clever!
So, so cute.
I have seen lots of felted bags before but this one really hits the mark! Great job!
Fabulous!!!! I bow to your creative and thrifty use of materials. A truly lovely creation.
This bag is so gorgeous! Wow! Thank you so much for the tutorial!
… and it doesn’t even look recycled.
Really, that’s very nice work.
Have you thought about making more of the bags & selling them ? I would buy a couple of them . They are beautiful.
Dorthy I used to sell things on etsy and ebay but the had more kids, got more animals, started writing a blog and just ran out of time!
Thanks is sweet that you like them that much. I could help you sew one yourself…seriously if you had any questions at all I would love to help! Kim
This bag is absolutely beautiful!!!
[…] see a lot of upcycled wool jumpers and clothes turned into bags but this is the nicest example I’ve seen in a while – and I’m not just saying that because it’s my […]
[…] see a lot of upcycled wool jumpers and clothes turned into bags but this is the nicest example I’ve seen in a while – and I’m not just saying that because it’s my […]
[…] see a lot of upcycled wool jumpers and clothes turned into bags but this is the nicest example I’ve seen in a while – and I’m not just saying that because it’s my […]
Absolutly genius!!
Absolutely genius!!!
That is just beautiful! My husband accidentally felted a sweater that I had spent about 4 months knitting a little while back, and I have started to sew this into a handbag too. I didn’t think of utilising the armholes for the handles though – wish I had, it would have been finished by now! This may well have spurred me on to finish this!
Pure magic !
Lovely, I’m glad to see it really works, I tried it with a sweater that wasn’t labelled and all the wool felted out into little red balls leaving a floppy looser knitted acrylic sweater, I actually wear it now! Took ages to get all the red wool out of my machine! I will try again with a wool one next time!
I especially love the flowers!
I love re-purposing things! Beautiful, I love it!
My grandson put Stumble on my desktop yesterday, and it brought me to your blue-sweater- knitting bag of felted wool.
I can’t wait to try this. I have been saving my woolens for felting, but didn’t know how to shrink it.
The rose motif is spectacular.
Thanks for the great idea!!
[…] idée maline, vient d’un autre blog wordpress : Not Dabbling In Normal, et l’idée est d’utiliser un vieux pull, ou tout simplement un de ces nombreux pulls […]
such a great idea fun tutorial
This is so lovely. I especially love how the flowers came out. . . somehow I get the feeling that if I tried it they wouldn’t look half as nice 🙂
[…] by this tutorial, and stuck with a shrunken sweater, I decided to make a bag. I enjoyed it so much that I went to […]
Super pretty!
Very pretty!
This is so cute! And it looks quite easy. thanks
Very cute. I love to make knitted and felted bags. This is a fun shortcut. The flowers really give it the perfect touch!
[…] sweater becomes a bag from Not Dabbling in Normal. This is the first felted bag tutorial I’ve seen that I actually like. Those flowers are […]
I was wondering about the handles…do they stretch out..should I line them ?
Love the tutorial, I am going to try it.
I was wondering about the handles as well. I was given a felted wool sweater from a sad friend. I would love to turn it into a bag for her!
[…] to make a bag out of an old […]
I love how you left the ribbing on precisely to show how it once was a sweater. It adds so much whimsy to what is already a stylish bag.
WOw, amazing. You impressed me so much. It is a pity people don’t even think about reusing stuff. I have a few friends who would just throw stuff in garbage without even thinking if it can be used in some other way.
[…] this great blog post by The Inadvertent Farmer on her Not Dabbling in Normal Blog. It is all about Recycling an old sweater by turning it into a funky […]
I use old sweaters for mittens and when I came across your lovely knitting bag and the artistic arrangement of roses on the front, I was thrilled. Thank you for sharing your creative gifts. I loved the digitals, the informative steps, and the stunning bag. I already ran to the thrift shop and bought a few sweaters. 🙂
Amazing !!!
Thanks for posting this, I love it and started making it the day I saw it!
[…] Not Dabbling in Normal the Wool Sweater Bag […]
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!! Simply beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.
love this and I will do this one.
Lovely. Especially like your roses!
Reblogged this on OX KNIT and commented:
Nice idea
I gave it a try with a cute red and pink lambswool. Other than forgetting to rotate before sewing in the bottom panel , I really liked its simplicity- you were my inspiration for this- and I thank you!
Amazing! Thank you for posting this! Found myself thinking which old sweaters I could use 🙂