Hardware kit available at: http://store.nonipatterns.com/products/Dinner-Party-Backs...

The theme of the dinner party was amateur theater, opening night. A local art deco theater with a deep stage and velvet curtains was rented out for the event. A set from a performance of M. Butterfly was half-set-up. There were old couches, a pink velvet chaise right out of an I Carte painting, an ensemble of small tables for the setting down of drinks. The code of dress was creative black tie: “bring something you can change into, or out of” the invitation had said.

The appetizers were passed by slender waiters with their hair slick as ice, starched white collars, black tails. The men wore black tuxes or blue jeans with tails. There was even a man with a ten-gallon hat and chaps talking to a woman in a gown that she held up to walk, revealing cowboy boots and patterned stockings held up over her knees with butter-yellow creased ribbons. Other ladies wore an array of beautiful cocktail dresses punctuated by the unexpected: a pair of decorated blue flared jeans under a flapper-style sheeth, a feather boa with a men’s style three piece suit, a motorcycle jacket and beaded tulle gown … Everywhere you looked it was a sensation for the eyes.

While some twosomes and threesomes were seated here and there on the many couches, engrossed in conversations, nearly everyone else stood, tiny plates in one hand, goblets in the other. The cream velvet settee by the stairs offstage was piled high with coats of all sorts, the ladies purses were arranged in a spectacular tumble on a tufted linen couch by the ladder to the catwalk.

The Dinner Party Back Stage felted bag pattern was inspired by that spectacular chaos of bags and purses on that linen couch: there are three sizes in this felted ba pattern, from a small-just-what-you-need handbag, to a medium I need more than just-what-you-need, to a large I-brought-more-than-one-outfit overnight bag.

Unadorned, these felted bags have the casual elegance of a saddle-bag and the practicality of the most austere tote. Decorated with cabochon rivets, these bags will catch the eye of most everyone at the dinner party, rodeo, and all the other folks you meet on the way.

Approximate Finished Dimensions
Small Bag 6” (15cm) square bottom x 8” (20cm) tall to handle, 6” (15cm) wide opening.
Medium Bag 10” (25cm) square bottom x 12” (30cm) tall to handle, 10” (25cm) wide opening.
Large Bag 14” (35cm) square bottom x 16” (40cm) tall to handle, 14” (35cm) opening.

Project Difficulty Level
Intrepid Easy: Requires knowledge of knitting, purling, picking up stitches within the knitted fabric, decreasing, knitting in the round, hand-sewing and riveting are required for the finishing process

Pre-Felted Gauge
12 sts and 16 rounds/rows over 4” (10cm) using a double-strand and size 11 (8mm) needle or needle size to obtain gauge.

Felted Gauge
Approximately 16 sts and 24 rounds = 4” (10cm). Check your pre-felted and felted gauges by swatching and felting an 8 x 8” (20 x 20cm) swatch first. Size variation occurs if gauge differs due to different needle size, yarn type, or fiber content.

Yarn Requirements
Small Medium, Large Bags: 650 yds (595m) 1320 yds (1210m), 2100 yds (1919m)

Needles & Other Materials

• Size 11 (8mm) 24” (60cm) circular needle for small and medium sized felted bags; longer circular for largest bag may be desired
• 4 stitch markers, 1 of a different color
• 4 No. 8 seed beads to attach Noni Label Tapestry needle, sewing needle, nylon beading thread, sewing pins
• 1 Noni Dinner Party Backstage Bag Kit (165-KT-HH-) includes: 1 Custom YKK zipper + 2 bottom stops, 1 Noni Metal Label, 20 Cabuchon rivets, 1 Noni Amazing Magnetic Snap, 1 JUL Lisbon 26” (65cm) handle (hfs2-26) NOTE: Additional Cabuchon rivets were used for the largest bag.
• Quick, clear-drying glue for attaching Cabuchon rivets