Felted Flower Bag is done!

I finished S's felted bag. It's a Christmas present, so it's a few days late, but I think she'll be happy with the way it turned out. We designed this ourselves and started with the lining fabric. then we chose feltable yarn to match it and sketched out some ideas. I felted a few swatches, did some math, and started knitting. The felting did not go exactly as anticipated... the strap felted much longer and skinnier than expected. In the end, I cut part of it off and reconnected it by needle felting. You can see the join in this photo - it's really apparent because of the angle (it's less so in real life, I think!).

If I had it to knit again, I would have done the strap differently. I also would not have bound off a couple of stitches on each side of the flap. I thought the flap would need more clearance to fold over the top of the bag, but it doesn't, and it looks a bit skinny. I think next time I want a rectangular bag, I will put some kind of edge or border on it before felting, in an attempt to stabilize the fabric more. I don't know if this will work or not, but it seems logical to try.I think S will be most happy with the inside of the flap. She really liked this flower fabric, and now she will see an entire big happy flower every time she opens it. It is a happy bag!