Felted Pants Almost Done!

Here are the felted pants, almost done!

You can read about my previous progress with these pants here:

http://loomdude.blogspot.com/2011/04/felted-pants-and-other-things.html

http://loomdude.blogspot.com/2011/04/loom-knit-felted-pants-part-2.html

For the entire project I used Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool Natural color, 2 skeins (though I didn't use the whole second skein). For the legs I knit 1 over 2 stockinette stitch on the red round loom for 134 rows per leg. For the torso I knit 1 over 2 stockinette stitch on the long blue loom (using both corner pegs). To start, I knit off 3 rows on the 8 center pegs, then I knit off the entire loom for 64 rows.

I arranged the three pieces together,

then sewed them together. They measure 12.5" x 30.5".

After knotting every tail, I turned the pants inside out,

and felted them in the washing machine for 5 minutes, checking to make sure they didn't shrink too much. Finally I carefully wrung them out, shaped and blocked them. I knew once I felted them that the curl caused by the stockinette stitch would tighten up and flatten out, so I wasn't really that concerned about it. I also "guessed" that the shrinking process would straighten out the top of the pants also. I figured whatever the shrinking didn't fix I could fix when I blocked and shaped them.

I shaped and blocked them a little more after taking this picture. After felting they now measure 9.75" x 26.5". They won't truly be complete until later this year, when my daughter tries them on and I alter them for her size. At first I was going to add some felted flowers to the pants, but they look nice the way they are without any decoration, so we'll see. I'm thinking about adding an elastic lining instead of a belt, though a nice ribbon belt would probably work too. Once I fit and alter them I will add a light fabric lining on the inside so they won't be scratchy, and try not to panic if she spills anything on them. I can always make another pair!