Felted Sweater Bowls

I love making and selling my felted sweater bags, but sometimes it's fun to dabble in other ideas for upcycled wool sweaters.

Remembering a millinery class, I thought, "Why can't I do something similar with wool sweater scraps?" We would stretch wool hat forms over a block to get the desired finished hat shape.

That's when I decided to try making little bowls.

A square piece of felted sweater was wet and dipped into a fabric stiffener that I purchased some time ago.

Plastic wrap was used to cover a glass bowl, and the stiffener soaked wool was stretched over the plastic wrap, smoothing all wrinkles and adjusting the top gathers.

White string, wrapped several times around held the gathers in place.

It took forever to dry indoors even with the use of a hair dryer every so often.

When it finally dried, the stiffened string was carefully cut and the bowl removed. Trim the top with scissors, and finish with some trim and a felted flower, of course.

Shown are two I kept for myself. Several others were sold at a summer craft fair with potpourri included in a small cellophane bag.

Try one!