Handmade Holiday Felt Gift Tags

Have you ever mistakenly put a woolen garment into the washing machine for a hot water wash? Or thought you could safely toss a wet woolen garment into the dryer to avoid laying it out to dry?  Ooops. While the results likely meant you could no longer wear the garment, there is no need to toss it out!

 

How about re-purposing it?

Fulled wool (the result of throwing a wool sweater in the washing machine with hot water and a touch of soap ;o) is a lovely material to craft with. No fraying edges to finish!  This poinsettia three dimensional tag was made from bonding quilting cottons to scraps of fulled wool (felt). 

 

Two sweaters and a dress coat - provided the scraps of fulled wool needed to make this tag.

This idea was an experiment for me as the thicknesses varied from wool scrap to wool scrap, unlike buying commercially made felt.  I wasn't sure how well all those layers would play together, but the idea worked. The iron on fusible worked well for bonding the cotton to the wool and then I decided to edge stitch the petals to add a little puffiness. I chose beads over French knots for the centers and love the finished look enough to make another one!  Especially as I'm seriously considering adding a pin back to this tag to make it into a brooch. ;o)

The next woolly tag was made from two fulled sweaters and simply stitched together.  Fusible web was used to attach the holly leaf cut from cotton scraps.

 

 Adding a jolly red button and a loop of festive ribbon for the finish makes this "figgy pudding" tag a very simple and cute make!

 

One figgy pudding wasn't enough, so a pink version came into being.  Each of these tags has a piece of cotton fused to the reverse side for writing a message to the recipient.  The tags could also be used as ornaments to hang on the tree, rather than attaching them to gifts. Oh, the possibilities!

I'm not done with using felt for more tag making, but these ideas are a start.  Hopefully they will spark your own versions or ideas for using this versatile textile (and encourage you to find items to re-purpose) in your tag making adventures.