My new sewing pouch – 3

The sewing pouch that I have made from a demi kit for a lingerie bag from Les Brodeuses Parisiennes just needed a needle book to be complete. The scissor keeper (see the previous post on this project) came out very well, but I have got a lot of projects on the go at the moment, and I was getting a bit restless with this one – I wanted it finished!

I decided that a needle book would take too long, but a needle roll would be quicker, and still do the job. I wanted the needle roll to have a motif on it from the main sewing pouch, like the scissor keeper did, so I took a couple of flowers from the bottom edge of the flower border framing the little bird.

I made the lining of the needle roll from a piece of doctor flannel. This is wonderful stuff, and much better than using felt. However, it’s not easy to buy any more. I bought mine a few years ago from Australia – half a yard – and it cost an arm and a leg for the postage to the UK! But it was worth it. I made a twisted cord to edge the roll with, and attached it in the same way as for the scissor keeper, leaving a long loop as before, to attach the roll to the sewing pouch loops.

This is the finished project, with the scissor keeper on the left, and the needle roll on the right, tightly wound into a tube, and held closed with a green aventurine bead.

They can both be held securely inside the sewing pouch by attaching each one via its loop to the loop on the lining.

Now, I can add whichever project I am working on at any time to the pouch, and put it in my luggage when I’m travelling, knowing that I’ll definitely have both scissors and spare needles to hand to use when I need to.

I’ve really enjoyed making this project. It didn’t take too long, it’s really pretty, I will be able to use it rather than just look at it, and it was a great Christmas present from my husband.

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My new sewing pouch – 2

Now that I have finished the demi cross stitch kit for a lingerie bag from Les Brodeuses Parisiennes (which I am actually going to use as a sewing pouch), I have decided to make a scissor keeper and needle book to match.

The bag instructions didn’t suggest any way to keep the bag closed, so I decided to stitch three press studs along the top edge – just enough to hold the bag closed without it being too heavy a closure. Then I made a fine twisted cord from two shades of thread left over from the embroidery, and made two short loops. I plan to attach the scissor keeper and needle book to these loops with longer loops stitched to their sides, to hold them in place inside the bag.

I made a pattern for the scissor keeper from paper, and tacked around it onto a piece of 28 count linen to transfer the shape.

I didn’t have a piece of linen exactly the same shade of cream as the flap of the sewing pouch, but it’s near enough.

I used a piece of the design from the centre of the sewing pouch as the motif on the scissor keeper front.

I found a pretty piece of printed cotton in my stash of doll’s house dress fabrics, which is about 15 years old, and has always been ‘too pretty to use’, up to now! It was ideal for the lining of the scissor keeper. I put the two fabrics right sides together and back stitched along the seam line, leaving a small gap along one of the straight sides for turning through. Then I made another piece of twisted cord, and attached it around the edge of the keeper, leaving a long loop on one side so that I could loop that piece through the other loop on the sewing pouch to keep the scissor keeper secure inside the bag.

The closure is a green aventurine 8mm bead.

Now I need to make the needle book!

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My new sewing pouch – 1

For Christmas 2014, my husband bought me a ‘demi kit pack’ from the French website Les Brodeuses Parisiennes to make a lingerie bag. He’d had a bit of a helping hand from Santa’s little elves to know what to get me – I’d had my eye on the bag for over a year!

The demi kit pack contained the fabric bag ready to embroider (with a front panel of 28 count linen) and the colour block chart, and suggestions for thread colours using DMC stranded cottons. By Christmas Day lunchtime I had pulled the threads I wanted to use from my stash (using Anchor stranded cottons instead of the DMC), and by Christmas Day teatime I was stitching  🙂

The design is very pretty, and so typical of French style.

 

To make it easier to do the cross stitch, the lining of the flap has been left partly undone, so that you can get your hand inside. When the stitching is finished, you just slip stitch the opening closed.

The chart includes a floral alphabet, so that you can personalise the pouch. As my initials are JG, that’s what I stitched on mine, but I had to alter the ‘J’ slightly, as I find that most J’s in alphabets are rendered so curly that they become unreadable. In this case, it just about works!

The finished pouch measures about ten inches by twelve. I wanted a pouch that I could keep small embroidery projects in when I’m travelling, as I travel quite a lot, and I don’t like using plastic bags for my stitching. I thought this would be much nicer  🙂

However, now that the pouch itself is finished, I fancy making a scissor keeper and maybe a needle book using motifs from the pouch, to keep inside it, so I’m going to sort through my fabric stash now to see if I have some 28 count fabric the same colour as the pouch flap.

 

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