Blocking

The pink purse, she has gone into the washing machine a caterpillar and come out a very flamboyant butterfly. Here she is, drying her wings, getting her shape, not quite ready to fly yet.

The good:

The purple piping really does draw it together. Many thanks to and , who spoke in favor of it. Good call, guys.

The straps. I based the length on the length of the straps I made for my booga bag, and hey, these straps did come out to be exactly the right length! Over the shoulder, then they hang the purse exactly where my hand would rest if I were looking for something in it. Since the recipient is my height, we’re golden. It’s tough to gauge these things perfectly before felting.

Potential problems:

The flap across the top shrank more width-wise than I thought it was going to. I had planned to put a zipper in, but I’m not sure that the zipper would actually secure anything now. Some extra stitching may be required, perhaps to bring together some of the flap portion to the end of the bag.

The double straps going into the single larger one looks good for this, I think. However, I wasn’t counting on the thinness of the area between the two straps as they go through the bag to join on the inside.

That’s clearly the weak link which will break first when the bag goes the way of all flesh. I’m thinking of ways to strengthen that little bit of knitting so that it won’t pull as much. I’m open to suggestion.

In fact, I think I’ll post part of this in and see what the talented folks there have to say about shoring up the straps.

For the most part, though, so far, so good!