Fearless construction of needle organizer using a twin needle – yes you can!

Yesterday in part one of More fun with twin needle quilting we gathered together the needed materials and prepared them for to make a cool needle organizer.

Today we use our SCHMETZ twin needles to construct the inside of our needle organizer.

Time for some fun!

Twin needle sewing on plastic – no problem with a few simple tricks!

The inside pockets of our sewing machine needle organizer are made from 8 gauge plastic.

A normal metal foot would stick to the plastic.

A walking foot would slip.

We’ll use a non-stick foot also known as a Teflon foot to make stitching on the plastic easy.

The top edge of our plastic pockets would stretch if we don’t stabilize them.

Double fold bias tape will make the edge of the plastic more visible, stop it from stretching and add an extra dimension to the inside of our needle organizer.

Pins would leave marks in the plastic so we’ll use a fabric adhesive stick to glue the narrow double fold bias in place prior to stitching.

Without unfolding them press the four 25″ pieces of bias tape so they’re nice and flat.

Open one tape so that there’s a fold down the center and the two outside edges are folded in to meet it.

Run the fabric adhesive stick down the middle so that you have a thin layer of the adhesive evenly covering the inside of the bias tape.

Wrap the bias tape around one long edge of the 3″ x 24″ plastic strip with the center fold of the bias tape running right along the cut edge.

The 4.0/80 Universal twin needle is the perfect size to stitch the bias in place.

Remember to go slowly so that your machine has a chance to pierce the plastic!

Repeat for the three remaining plastic strips.

Create the organizer pockets

Next we mark placement lines on the 15″ x 24″ piece of cotton fabric for the inside of your needle organizer.

Use UNIQUE SEWING wash out marker that’s easily visible on your fabric.
Test on a scrap of your fabric to be sure that you can remove the markings when no longer needed.

• Mark the vertical center  12″ from the short outside edge.
• Mark a horizontal line 4″ from the top.
• Mark a second horizontal line 3″ from the first line.
• Mark a third horizontal line 3″ from the second line.
• Mark the fourth and last horizontal line 3½” from the third line.

Re-thread your machine with the 2.5/80 SCHMETZ twin needle.

Stitch the bottom,  unbound cut edge of the 3″ x 24″ plastic strip to the line drawn 4″ from the top edge.

The plastic can’t be pinned without permanent marks so just hold it in place manually making small adjustments as required to keep the cut edge of the plastic up against your drawn line.

Stitch the bottom, unbound edge of a 3¼” x 24″ plastic strip to the next line down.

The bound portion of the strip will overlap the unbound but stitched edge above for a nice finished appearance.

Repeat with the next 3¼” x 24″ plastic strip.

Line up the bottom, unbound cut edge of the 3½” x 24″ plastic strip to the last line and stitch in place.

Draw the stitching lines for the organizer pockets.

Draw a line ¼” on either side of the vertical center line.

Draw vertical lines every 2½” to the right and left.

With your 2.5/80 twin needle stitch from the bottom to the top on each of the drawn lines.

Like magic all of the pockets are completed!

Trim the right and left sides 1″ away from the last stitched line.

If required trim the top edge 1″ away from edge of the first binding.

Trim the bottom edge ½” away from the last line of stitching.

The inside of your sewing machine needle organizer is now complete.

Come back tomorrow when we begin decorating the front of our needle organizer with our SCHMETZ needle and straight line, twin needle quilting.