Having spent a fabulous week walking on the beach and sploshing around in the sea during our Indian Summer in the UK, I wanted to create the beach feel in a felt bag as a birthday present for a very special friend who lives miles away from the sea.

When I walk along the beach I can’t resist (no pun for felters intended) filling my pockets with interesting stones and shells, and I wanted to use some of these in the felt, so I washed them then painted them with nail polish to recreate that ‘sea-washed wet’ look. They felted in really well and weren’t all that heavy. I also used some small pieces of plastic resist to create texture by cutting through the top surface of felt to reveal an under layer of green and gold organza.

Wensleydale locks are just so useful for waves, their curly texture so similar to the froth when the waves break.

Whilst browsing the wonderful emporium of Tilly’s Retro (above Tilly’s Tea Room in Halesworth) I came across a package of shells. They had already had holes punched in the side so they could be sewn on like beads, and this was the perfect project to use them.

I added some pieces of green organza which I heated with a heat gun to distort it so that it looks like seaweed then stitched them on with nylon thread. And I added some beads around a piece of gorgeous iridescent organza for the sparkle of the sun on the sea. I managed to forget to take a photo of the wonderful piece of shell used for a button because I was impatient to package it up and send it off!

sea shore felt bag

wet felted seamless sea shore felt bag blythwhimsiesinner pocket wet felted sea shore felt bagsea shore felt bag

By |2017-09-10T16:25:17+01:00October 15th, 2015|felt and fabric|