Felted Spectacle Glasses Case

About

You Will Need (7 things)

Steps (3 steps, 120 minutes)

1. 1

   Wet felting the glasses
   Case Shape

   1. First cut a template from strong template plastic making it 20% larger than you’d like your glasses case to be to allow for shrinkage.
   I used a rectangle measuring about
   18 x 27cm (7 x101?2in) and slightly rounded the corners at the base.
   2. Working from the inner layer
   out, lay out the peppermint wool overlapping the edges of the template. Cover with netting, wet, soap and rub for a few minutes. Turn the template over and fold in the edges. Repeat on the other side.
   3. Now lay down the outer layer of salmon pink with the fibres facing in the opposite direction, and overlap the edges. Add some fine wisps of black wool for the main frame of the glasses in the centre. Keep the shape of the glasses fairly large within the space, but leave a little room around the edges. Try to keep the outline
   as neat and tidy as you can at this stage, although it can be added to later on when adding the needle felting details.
   4. Cover, wet, soap and rub for about 10–20 minutes or until all the fibres are securely attached together. Turn over and fold in the edges.
   5. Now you are working on the
   final side, so no overlap is required. Simply fill in the centre with some more salmon pink, although if you want to you can add a little black heart to decorate. Repeat the rubbing until everything feels attached together.
   6. Briefly rinse in lukewarm water, then do a complete roll on both sides (see 3D Seamless Objects,
   step 9, page 127). Rinse in very
   hot water and briefly roll again.
   7. Using small sharp scissors, cut
   the case open at one end and remove the template. Trim to neaten if necessary, and then soap, rub and felt the edges.
   8. Remove all traces of soap with a hot rinse followed by a freezing cold rinse. Repeat the rolling on both sides until you are happy with the amount of shrinkage. Leave to dry.

2. 2

   Needle felting the fine details
   1. Insert some protective foam
   into the opening of the glasses case. Following the photographs opposite and below, begin by needle felting a red border around the black glasses frame, and finish with a very fine black line on the outer edge. Now add a very fine white line on the inside to define the lenses.
   2. Make the eyes by using small amounts of white wool; add black eyelids and blue/green irises, with
   a tiny black dot in the centre of
   each for the pupil.

3. 3

   Finishing the case
   1. Add the stick-on gems at the top
   of each side of the glasses frame. Dab each gem with a dot of glue and use tweezers to position, then leave to dry.
   2. To add a closure, sew in Velcro spots or a press stud on the inside, near the opening.