Name: Whiskered Fox Felted Wool Coin Purse
Brand: Carding House Co
SKU: CHC-PCH-F-011
Price: 28.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Whiskered Fox Felted Wool Coin Purse

$28.00 USD

100% New Zealand Wool
Open pasture, naturally soft, cleanly spun, and extraordinarily resilient.
Individually Hand-Sculpted
Wet-felted and needle-detailed so no two pieces are identical.
Naturally Fresh & Durable
Breathable, odor-resistant, and easy to spot clean.

Description

The purse is the fox. Not a rectangle with a fox on the front — the whole thing is cut to his outline, ears and all, front and back.

That one decision drives everything else. The ears are unsupported points with no seam holding them up, so the felt has to be dense enough to keep them standing on their own. And the zip cannot run along the top in the usual place, because the ears are there. It sits lower instead, straight across his brow, which is why he has to be opened at the forehead.

The whiskers are real thread. Three to a side, knotted at the cheek and left loose, so they lift and move rather than lying stitched flat against the felt. It is a small thing and it is the first thing anyone touches.

The cream V running up his face is the fox's mask — the proper name for those facial markings — laid on as cut felt and bound down all the way round in blanket stitch. Cream ear linings, two black almond eyes, a black nose.

15 × 12 cm, with a matching orange felted ball on the zip. The back is plain orange in the same silhouette, so he reads as a fox from either side.

Made from New Zealand wool.

New Zealand wool, felted and cut to shape.
Cut-felt mask, ear linings, eyes and nose, applied.
Cotton thread whiskers, knotted and left loose.
Cotton blanket stitch around the applied panels.
Metal zip with an orange felted wool ball pull.

15 x 12 cm (approx. 5.9 x 4.7 in), including the ears.
Cut to the fox silhouette front and back.
Fits cards, coins, a key and a lip balm.

Cut to the silhouette, which is a harder way to build a purse than it looks.
Most animal pouches are a rectangle with the animal applied to the front. This one is cut to the fox's outline, ears and all, on both faces. That creates two problems the maker has to solve.
The ears are unsupported points. There is no seam or gusset holding them upright, so the felt has to be worked dense enough at the tips to stand on its own — too soft and they fold over and the whole silhouette collapses into a blob.
And the zip cannot sit where a zip normally sits. The top of the piece is occupied by the ears, so the opening runs lower, straight across the brow. The purse is opened at the forehead rather than the crown, and the zip has to be set to a curve rather than a straight edge.
The mask — the cream V up the face, which is the proper name for a fox's facial markings — is cut felt laid on and bound all the way round in blanket stitch, a looped edge stitch that secures a raw felt edge and decorates it in one pass.
The whiskers are the one loose element. Three cotton threads a side, knotted at the cheek and left free rather than couched flat, so they lift and move. Stitched down they would have read as drawn lines; loose, they read as whiskers.

Pure New Zealand pasture wool naturally repels dust and light spills thanks to its dense, organic fiber structure.

The whiskersthey are loose by design and will catch on a knit lining or a hook-and-loop fastening. Keep the purse in a smooth pocket, and if one tangles, work it free with your fingers rather than pulling it straight.

The earsthey hold their own shape but will crease if the purse is packed flat under weight. If a tip folds, press it back and leave it to settle.

Day-to-daya soft brush lifts dust. Keep a lint roller away from the whiskers entirely.

Spot cleaningblot with a barely damp cloth and dry fully open so the zip tape dries too. Never soak and never machine wash — the orange will bleed straight into the cream mask, which is the whole face.