Friday, 8 January 2016

The SewsAttic Needlecase!


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.


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