Felted Envelope Bag with Flap
January 11th, 2007 by Jen LoveFelting has been the perfect discovery for me as a knitter. It hides your mistakes and holds the element of surprise. I normally am afraid of patterns and love to knit mindlessly, so I don’t enjoy it if I have to concentrate too much. Now that I have gained a little confidence and the knowledge of a few techniques I am brave enough to try and make up my own patterns. Felting seems to be a great method when you are winging it, especially if you are like me and don’t really mind what size it turns out. The mystery is all part of the fun!
This pattern is loosely written because you can adjust to make it any size you want. One of the reasons I like felting and making up my own pattern, is that I love throwing it into the washing machine and waiting expectantly for the buzzer to sound! So knit this pattern as long and wide as you like, fold it over and picture what it will look like, keeping in mind that it may lose about 1/3 of its original size.
So here’s what I did: Cast On 40 stitches, double stranded, size 11 needles (straight or circular, but do not knit in the round). You will need wool, feltable yarn.
1. Stockinette stitch (knit row, purl row, repeat) about 88 rows, fold from the bottom up to decide what size you want the body of the bag to be.
2. When you get the body the size that you desire, tie a piece of scrap yarn in the end of your row to mark your place, and knit, purl a few more rows. This will allow more room to cover your contents when you fold the flap over.
3. To begin the triangular flap, start on a knit row, knit two onto the second needle and then bind off the first stitch as if you are finishing your knitting. Knit the rest of the row and bind off last stitch.
Purl the next row, without any decreasing. Repeat directions until the flap is as narrow as you desire. (I stopped when there was only 4 left.)
4. With a large needle, sew up the sides of the bag and tuck in any ends. Fold as if you are making your own envelope.
5. Knit an I-Cord for the strap. Using same size double pointed needles, knit 3, slide stitches to end and knit 3 until desired length. Do not turn over your knitting. I love this simple method and the results. Keep in mind when you throw the cord over you shoulder to preview how it will look, that the strap will be quite shorter after you felt it. Sew strap inside the bag along your side seams and tuck in ends.
6. Felting, finally! Wash in hot water with another sturdy item (I use jeans). Bite your nails and wait anxiously…then take out and lay flat to dry. If you are not happy with the size, you may repeat. My final product was 12″ wide, 6″ deep (with flap folded) so I thought it was a perfect small bag. You may also want to clip off the fuzz with scissors.
This only took a little more than a 3 1/2 oz. skein and a weekend (and I have a busy one year old!) Hope you are happy with your results!
*You could also make this bag with a straight flap instead of triangular. It would look just like knitting a wide scarf and sewing up the sides. Too easy!! Any other ideas on how to modify this? Also, I haven’t decided yet if I should add a button loop and button at the end of the flap to finish it off. Any suggestions?
January 11th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Jen i love it! it looks soooo good. the yarn looks even better when it felted. loove it!
January 11th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I love the way it turned out – seriously Jen, my birthday is in April…I’m just saying…
January 12th, 2007 at 6:31 am
It looks great Jen! Maybe you could add a small tassel on the point for a different look, or I agree, a loop with a funky button would add to it as well. But even if you leave it how it is, it looks fantastic!
January 15th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Love the purse Jen. I am trying my hand at felting. I got some wool and am making our new baby wool soakers. Can’t wait to felt them and see them on baby Crook!!
January 16th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
It turned out great! The pictures really look good!
May 29th, 2007 at 4:10 am
I know you wrote this up a while ago, but I only found it today! Great bag! I plan on following your basic pattern, but adjusting a bit by making a more rounded triangle flap and picking up around the triangle to add a ruffle. Can’t wait to make it!
November 19th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Felting question….what keeps the front of the purse from felting INTO the back of the purse? Thanks. Want to do this, but hesitate because of my front loading washer.
November 27th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Carol,
I don’t know how it works but the front and back do not felt together! I don’t know if you can do it with a front loading washer, because I like to check the felting progress throughout the cycle. My mom though lets it run the whole cycle and hers have turned out great! Different yarns though will have different results. I hope you try it!
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Hi Jen. I know a lot of time has passed since you made this bag, but I was wondering if you happened to remember what the yarn was that you used for this bag? It is a beautiful bag and I would love to make one like it…
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Jen D- I got this yarn at Micheal’s. I cannot remember the name of it but I think Micheal’s only sells one brand of yarn that is felt-able (at least ours does) and it comes in about a dozen colors. I think it had the word Rose in the title. Sorry I can’t be more help!
February 7th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Thank you Jen. The funniest thing is that I just bought that yarn yesterday (it is called Rosewood by Paton’s) to make something completely different! I thought that it would make some really cute felted fingerless gloves. I usually make them mostly solid with some stripes around by the thumbhole, but I thought that I would try a yarn that was already varigated. I never even thought that it would be the same yarn. It looks really nice felted. Thanks again. Jen
April 6th, 2011 at 12:12 am
Hmmm…guess I”ll get both and hope the Weimar doesn”t get jealous of the iPad; even a mil-spec iPad case cannot stand up to the wrath of a Weimar.