DIY felted coin purse

Winter days are made for inside craft activities. Make this cute little key ring coin purse by yourself, or involve the grandies. Either way, you’ll love it

You’ll need

• Carded coloured wool (available from craft shops or order online)
• A solid, spherical object (we used a vase but a plastic ball or a small melon would also work well). The spherical object (which we’ll refer to as the vase) should measure approximately 10 cm high and 35 cm in diameter.
• A piece of mesh (for example: tulle, a string onion-bag, or old pantyhose) which is large enough to surround the vase and be gathered in at the top.
• Twisty tie
• Heat-proof rubber gloves
• Very hot water
• Detergent
• Sharp scissors
• Thin twine or similar thread
• Bodkin
• Button with shank & split ring (optional)

What to do

1. If you are involving children in your DIY activity, watch them carefully as this project involves sharp objects and very hot water. Sit the vase in the middle of the piece of mesh.
2. Cover the vase completely (including base and top) in a layer of carded wool. Wrap 2 more layers of carded wool around the object, running each layer in a different direction.
3. Gather the mesh tightly around the wool-covered vase. Secure it at the top with the twisty tie.
4. Put on your heat-proof gloves. Fill a bowl with very hot water. Soak the wool-covered vase in the water. Squirt some detergent onto the wool. Rub the wool vigorously, all over. Repeat this several times more, adding more detergent as you go, until the wool felts together. Dip the felt-covered vase in the water again, then squeeze out as much moisture as possible from the felt.
5. Peel the mesh off the felt.
6. Add wisps of different colour wool to the surface of the felt. Wrap the vase in mesh again, secure at the top, and repeat the procedure above until the wisps adhere to the felt. Squeeze out as much water as you can from the felt. Take off the mesh.
7. Leave the felt-covered vase in a warm place until the felt is dry.
8. When the felt is dry, use scissors to cut around the vase at its widest point. This gives you a felt bowl.
9. Using your twine and bodkin, run a gathering stitch around the edge of the bowl.
10. Pull both ends of the twine to gather the edge of the bowl into a coin purse.
11. If you want to, you can thread the ends of the twine through the shank of a button to help keep the purse closed. To make a key ring purse, thread the twine onto a split ring. Then thread your key onto the ring.