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| Needlecases made from vintage cloth bound maps |
I
have been making these for a while now, and I have sold one or two in my Etsy
shop. A couple of buyers left lovely feedback including:
What
a great little needlecase! Really quirky and fun - and came complete with some
buttons, needles and pins! Thank you 👍
This
needlecase is lovely. The hand-finished style is nice and the real bonus for me
is that my village is featured on this vintage map cover.
I’m
not sure where I got the original idea.
Obviously I spend a lot of time looking at needlecases. I did buy a fabric one from a craft stall and
study how it was put together, with a mind to making my own. But the use of a
cloth bound map as the outer shell must have come out of the blue
somewhere. Possibly it was wine-fuelled.
The
traditional folds of an old map make a handy template for this. Cut out one of the rectangles made naturally
by the folding action.
Cut out a length of fabric to act as the inner lining,
to the same size. I use pinking shears
to prevent fraying and give a nice scalloped edge.
Get a small rectangle of
felt and stitch it into the middle of your lining fabric, folding both in half
to get the crease to stitch along.
Then, stitch the lining fabric to the inside
of the map, using backstitch. Of course,
I always use a vintage Sylko thread to do this.
I find that Lime Tint often blends in well with a map that contains a
lot of green shading. Solent would be a good blue shade for a map of the
coastline – but of course you can use whatever shade you think co-ordinates
well with your materials.
While
attaching the lining, ensure you slip in the ribbon ties halfway down each of
the short sides. Give them an extra bit of backstitch to ensure that they stay
in place.
Finally,
add a couple of pins and needles to your felt, and the odd vintage button to
complete the look.
Nobody
else with have a needlecase exactly like yours…and you can gaze lovingly at a
favourite location as you pick out your needles.
