Total Overhaul

Today I became quite…intimate… with my seam ripper. It was a rocky relationship; tempers flared. But in the end, we were able to pull it off.

I totally started over on my felted wool bag.

I liked it, but I knew I wouldn’t use it because the straps were way too bulky. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going, but I knew the straps had to come off. I cut pieces off, I ripped out seams, I sewed new ones.

And ripped the new ones out again, and sewed them up again. My sewing machine is having tension issues. If you sew, you know that bad tension can really mess things up. And in turn, give you tension issues, like screaming and slamming things down in disgust.

But I digress. I turned the two straps into one long one. I made a lining out of scraps of drop cloth. When I was, at last, finished, I decided that I needed some closure.

No, not the kind you get by burning your ex-boyfriend’s love letters, although there were moments when I definitely considered doing the equivalent to my sewing machine. Whatever that would be.

What I needed was a button. At the antique mall last Saturday, I bought two bags of vintage buttons. I found one that worked, sewed it on, and made a little strap to button up the bag.

And here’s the finished product:

I think the butterscotch-colored button adds a little pizzazz. And look, I even have a pocket for my cell phone!

Okay, so the inside’s not too pretty. I still have a little clean-up to do on dangling threads. But it’s functional, and I really like the outside, and I will definitely use this second reincarnation of the wool sweater, which was the whole point in the first place.

Oh, and here’s a tip for you from Dixie. Shaving your felted wool will greatly reduce the fuzzies.