Knitting Needle Case

My sister recently took up knitting, and so I decided to make her a handy knitting needle case. It's entirely made of scraps I had in my stash, but I'm happy how the combination turned out.

14" x 9 1/2" main fabric - a heavy weight IKEA print

14" x 9 1/2" lining - a lightweight print with beige and white polka dots

14" x 8" pocket - a pretty polka dot fat quarter remnant

5"x8" outer pocket - same fabric as the outer pocket

14" bias tape

Scraps of pajama elastic

18” piece of ribbon

I started by cutting the pocket fabric at an angle, to accommodate different length needles. For a polished look, I finished the angled edge with bias tape.

The next step was to space the pocket on the lining, as well as the elastic scraps.

I basted the pocket to the lining, and sewed down vertical lines to make individual slots for the different needles.

With a zigzag stitch I sewed down the elastic onto the lining, where it can hold small scissors or other little knitting helpers.

For the outer pocket, I made a double folded hem for the top edge, and ironed the sides and bottom in 1/4" before topstitching to the outer fabric.

Finally, I sewed the lining and outer fabric with right sides together, catching the ribbon in the side seam and leaving a small opening for turning. After pushing out the corners, I topstitched all around, for a more finished look and to close the opening.

French Memo Board

There are many, many different tutorials for French Memo Boards in Blogland, and I wanted to use the simplest method possible. I thought this would be a great gift, both as a vehicle for whimsical mini-gifts (the photos, the ornament, the disco pencil), as well as a useful desk organizer later on.

Materials:
picture frame
1 sheet of felt
1 fat quarter
1 yd of elastic
13 buttons
thread and sticky tape

So I bought a picture frame and layered a piece of felt and a piece of fabric onto the glass. I'd cut the felt to exactly the size of the glass, and the fabric with some overhang. In the absence of a glue gun, I just used sticky tape to glue the fabric overhang to the back side of the glass. No pictures of this as all the files were corrupted!

Then I cut and laid out my pieces of elastic until they were (mostly) evenly spaced, and sewed the ends onto the back side of the fabric with a few small stitches to keep everything in place.

With buttons of the same color, but different shapes and sizes, I attached each "intersection" of elastic to the fabric and felt backing.



Whe all the elastic pieces and buttons were securely in place, it was time to put the glass back into the picture frame.

I was afraid the clamps on the back of the frame might not hold down the glass with the felt and fabric but they worked.
Love the result - this is certainly not the last French Memo Board I'm going to make!
























There are many, many different tutorials for French Memo Boards in Blogland, and I wanted to use the simplest method possible. I thought this would be a great gift, both as a vehicle for whimsical mini-gifts (the photos, the ornament, the disco pencil), as well as a useful desk organizer later on.

Materials:
picture frame
1 sheet of felt
1 fat quarter
1 yd of elastic
13 buttons
thread and sticky tape

So I bought a picture frame and layered a piece of felt and a piece of fabric onto the glass. I'd cut the felt to exactly the size of the glass, and the fabric with some overhang. In the absence of a glue gun, I just used sticky tape to glue the fabric to the back side of the glass.

Then I cut and laid out my pieces of elastic until they were (mostly) evenly spaced, and sewed them onto the back side of the fabric with a few small stitches to keep them in place.

With buttons of the same color, but different shapes and sizes, I attached each "intersection" of elastic to the fabric and felt backing.



With all the elastic and buttons, in place, it was time to put the glass back into the picture frame - and add a sorts of flat objects!

I was afraid the clamps on the back of the frame might not hold down the glass with the felt and fabric but they worked.
Love the result - this is certainly not the last French Memo Board I'm going to make!