cvm origami felt bag

So this week I had a chance to play around with some CVM (California Variegated Mutant) fleece, a breed which I hadn't worked with before.

I assumed it would both spin and felt up nicely...its very fine and has a lovely crimp... and I have been wanting to play around with a felt origami bag for a while.

So as a sampler, I decided to make a small change purse...just enough for some bills, credit cards, license and random change. I laid out a square of CVM batt (16" square) and added a border and button strap of merino top I had laying around. Then I felted the whole thing, evenly to be sure I kept the square shape, which is needed for the bag. It felted up quickly and with only about 10% shrinkage.

Then I folded the square in half to form a triangle and tucked the 2 "side" points in toward the same side. This fold is a bit different than that in the book, but it is what suited my purposes. I wanted 2 compartments, both with a flap. Anyway, after folding in the 2 sides, I hand stitched the bottom, sewed on 1 button and voila! The purse has 2 compartments; 1 large and deep and the other shallower, but secured, because both compartments have flaps. Both flaps button on the same button. It's quite cute. I have some revisions I make to future origami felts,but this was a satisfactory start and I enjoyed felting the CVM.

Now lets see if I can get some photos of it loaded?

Anyone else have any experience with either felted origami or working with CVM?