I have done a LOT of sewing lately. I summarized my holiday sewing in my last post. Since then I've made another pair of knit pants for me (because Covid-10 is a thing), a pair for my daughter, a couple of jersey tops, added back pockets to all the knit pants that didn't have any, made a pair of houndstooth dress pants, and I'm sure there's more. To be honest I was a little tired of clothes sewing and quilt sewing when I ran across the
Nancy Zieman needle case project. Thanks to Ebay and Amazon I have a pretty good stash of needles, and this looked like a good project to practice some skills without getting overwhelmed.
I have seen a few scrappy quilting projects lately that caught my interest and thought this could be a cute little project to try out that idea. I made scrappy 2 1/2" squares and then used a 2 1/2" sashing strip to showcase some embroidery to make the outer fabric. I used a heavy natural cotton for the inner fabric.
The pattern calls for interfacing but I didn't have any on hand that I thought would be firm enough so I went whole hog and used corrugated cardboard. This proved to be a bit of a challenge to assemble. I cut one piece each for the front and back and then a 1/2" strip for the spine. I basted the cardboard to the outer fabric, then used wonder clips to hold the binding and the inner fabric together to sew the whole sandwich together. The binding ends aren't joined as you would with a quilt because the project isn't flexible like a quilt Instead the ends are lapped. I opted for a snap closure instead of the elastic band style of Nancy's, and the snap strap gave me a good place to hide the join in the binding. I had to machine sew the binding down using my stitch-in-the-ditch foot because I wouldn't be able to hand-sew it down through the clear plastic strips used for the pockets. Between that and sewing through the cardboard, the binding isn't as neat on the inside as I would like.
I initially thought that there are way too many needle pack sized pockets, and perhaps I needed to make some for other items. Once I laid out all the needles I had on hand I realized I only had 2 empty slots! I was quite happy with it and ready to call it a day but I had to be diligent to keep it upright. If I tipped it over some of the needle packs would fall right out of the case. I found a piece of felt in my sewing room and thought it would make a perfect flap to cover the needle packs from the top and to put a little pressure on them when the case is tipped over to keep them in place.
I hand stitched the felt to the top binding. I then dug out my small needle parking lot that I made quite a few years ago. I use this thing constantly and it was due for some freshening up. I took off the old shabby binding and replaced it with matching binding for the new project so they work as a set. The felt cover is perfect for keeping some hand sewing needles, my diaper pin for threading elastic, a small pair of scissors and some wonder clips.
Now when I close it up it feels very secure. The needle packs stay in their slots if I just tip it upside down. If I shake it a few fall out of their slots but the felt keeps them inside the case. If the day ever comes that I take a sewing class again I would be very happy to bring this along. Now I just need to decide if I want to go through all the drama of making another Bionic Gear Bag to match it.
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