Thursday, February 19, 2009

Felting wool sweaters (or even more things that are making me happy)

Last week I was cleaning out my laundry/sewing/crafty/clothes-drying/mess room downstairs and came across my bag of thrifted wool sweaters. I've been saving them up to make a quilt. I decided that as soon as I got that room organized that I would treat myself for all my hard work by felting the sweaters and getting going on the quilt. In amongst my cleaning I found all sorts of fun things to make with felted sweaters (try googling felted sweaters and prepare to be overwhelmed inspired. Here they are before felting.
Here they are after felting.

So, naturally (!!), I needed to get more sweaters. We were on our way to visit a friend when we spied a $5 a bag sign at a thrift store. My lovely hubby pulled in and I picked out every wool sweater I saw. Seven of them. We found a few shirts for W and went to pay thinking that we would have two bags full and get all that lovely goodness for only $10. Needless to say that I was tickled pink when the woman at the counter took a look and said that we would need to roll them all up tightly to be able to fit them into a bag. She proceed to roll all those big wool sweaters up into tiny rolls and cram them all into a grocery bag. I love her. ;-)



This top one is already ear-marked for a project. I want to cut the front open so that it is a cardigan and then do some needle felted embellishments on it. I found inspiration here.

And I'll need to turn one of them into one of these bags. But I still need enough for my quilt so maybe I actually need more sweaters. ;-)

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4 comments:

  1. AndreaFebruary 19, 2009 at 5:38 PM

    Oh what a score!

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  2. STEPHANIE.February 20, 2009 at 10:17 AM

    hello, first time here at your blog....question...how did you felt those sweaters? I have always wanted to do that, but never understood how. email me if you can fever.overjoyed@gmail.com....thanks!

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  3. TaraFebruary 20, 2009 at 5:55 PM

    You have reminded me that I have my own stack of felted goodness to attend to...

    The thrifting goddess must have been with you for that is an amazing score. Our thrift store prices have gone through the roof – it's unbelievable.

    I can't wait to see the finished products. I hope you'll share.

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  4. HeatherFebruary 26, 2009 at 8:47 PM

    Stephanie the sweaters are really simple to felt. I just put them into a pillowcase and secure the top with an elastic band. I fill the washing machine with hot water and a squirt of dish soap and then put the pillow cases full of sweaters in. I add a pair of old jeans for a little agitating help and then run the wash cycle. I leave the lid of my machine up so that I can run the wash cycle over a time or two if I need. I just keep checking until the sweaters look like they have felted enough. Then I just squeeze out the excess water and hang them out to dry. Hope that helps.

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