FREE Quilting Patterns, Tutorials, Magazine

Making an adorable Travel Needle Kit with felt

Making an adorable Travel Needle Kit with felt

by Robin Bogaert

All week I’ve been having fun with felt. Yesterday I made a forget-me-not pin cushion and today I’m making a really unique folded Travel Needle Kit with Kunin Rainbow Classic Felt and DMC Embroidery Floss. Follow along with me and discover how easy it is to make this cute and very useful kit to enable you to have handy needles, pins, and more with you on your travels this summer. If you’re like me sewing/crafting/quilting is a part of me that I cannot part with, so travel sewing supplies are essential.

I did sew this with a sewing machine, but you could also make this little kit completely by hand.

Travel Needle Kit made with Kunin Rainbow ClassicFelt

materials

Materials needed to make the Travel Needle Kit

How to make the travel needle kit

1. Download the free pattern here.

2. Cut out and pin the pattern to the fabric scrap (inside of kit). Trace the pattern piece onto the fabric with a UNIQUE Sewing Wash-Out blue Marker and cut it out.

UNIQUE wash-out marker is incredibly useful for marking all sewing projects and disappears with just a spritz of water when your project is complete!

UNIQUE Sewing Wash-out Marker used to trace the pattern piece onto the fabric. Wash it out later with just a spritz of warm water.

3. Using the free downloadable pattern, cut out the Kunin Rainbow ClassicFelt with KAI 7100 Embroidery Scissors. I find the blade from these scissors sharp from top to tip and they cut through the felt like butter creating a precise cut.

Tracing and cutting out the outside felt piece from Kunin Rainbow ClassicFelt

4. Cut 1 piece of ivory Kunin Rainbow ClassicFelt 4″ long x 1¾” wide and 1 piece 3¾” long x 1½” wide for the needle book inside the needle kit. Cut a piece of ribbon for button closure approximately 2″ long.

All pieces of the Travel Needle Kit are cut out

5.  Fold the ribbon in half and pin it towards the inside of the fabric on the top flap as shown below and sew ⅛” from the edge with a hand basting stitch or a machine stitch, stitch over the ribbon a least twice.

Pinning the ribbon, button closure to the inside fabric (top flap) with a Klasse´ Quilting Flat Head Pin

Ribbon closure basted to inside fabric

6.  Lay the right side of the fabric against the Kunin Rainbow ClassicFelt (lavender) and sew ¼” all the way around leaving a 2″ turning gap as shown. Snip curves and corners close to seam line with KAI Embroidery Scissors. This will help it turn to the right side without puckers.

Kunin Rainbow ClassicFelt sewn to the inside fabric (right side of fabric against the felt). See KAI Embroidery Scissors pointing to the gap.

7. Turn the needle kit right side out through the gap.

8. Press the needle kit and slip stitch the opening closed.

The needle kit is pressed and the gap is stitched close

9. Sew lines as shown below on the center of the needle kit. This will help with the folding of the needle kit.

Sewing the square to allow for folding

In this photo, you can see what is stitched to make the top of the folding square

10. Draw a straight line with a UNIQUE Sewing Wash-out Marker on the bottom of the square to close in the square. Lay the ivory pieces of felt (for the needlebook) centered over the marked line. Draw another line on top of the 2 pieces of ivory felt. Pin in place ready to sew.

Felt pieces for the needlebook, layed together across the line at the bottom of the square and pinned.

11. Sew across the marked line, stitching the needlebook to the outside of the Travel Needle Kit.

Stitching across the marked line to adhere the need book to the outside of the Travel Needle Kit

12. It’s time to embellish the Needle Kit (better known as the fun time!). Using the free downloadable pattern cut out 5 pink petals for the flower from Kunin Rainbow ClassicFelt in light pink as shown below.

5 petals cut out and ready to make a little blossom

13. Thread a 12″ length of sewing thread and make a large knot on the end of the thread. String the petals with thread as shown below. Cinch them close together and tie a knot so the petals will hold together.

Stringing the petals for an easy to make felt blossom

Petals being cinched together

14. Sew the flower to the front of the kit as shown and embellish with lazy daisy stitches and DMC Embroidery Floss in sage green and sew or glue beads to the center of the flower with Hi-Tak No-Sew Fabric Glue as shown.

Flower is sewn to the front of the needle kit with beads in the center and lazy daisy stitched leaves

15. Sew on some beads – this is optional but the raindrop effect gives it a nice shine.

Raindrop beads added to the front of needle case

16. To fold the needle kit, fold the side flaps towards the center first and then the bottom and the top. Sew a button to the bottom front side of the needle kit, fold the top front down and loop the ribbon over the button as shown.

Button is sewn to the bottom front of needle kit

17. What to put inside my new Travel Needle Kit? I like to wrap sewing thread around a DMC Thread Floss Bobbin and put it in my kit, buttons in a petite jewelry bag, always needles, pins, and a safety pin. Don’t forget the needle threader and tiny fold-up scissors and you’re ready for any sewing emergency. This all fits inside the Travel Needle Kit. It’s spacious yet small, pretty, and practical.

Items to carry along in the Travel Needle Kit

The Travel Needle Kit is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, yet it’s packed with many practical sewing essentials, ready to go on the road this summer.

I encourage you to try and make one a Travel Needle Kits. For those of you who are into hand applique, English paper piecing, or simply sewing practical, you’ll love this kit.

Tomorrow, I’ll show a very simple ½ hour project using Kunin Rainbow ClassicFelt.

It’s summer fresh and practical on Friday’s menu. Come on back tomorrow and enjoy a felt project that’s the easiest ever.

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3: Hand sewing a vintage Forget-Me-Not pin cushion

Go to part 5: Making sew easy, summer-fresh felt strawberry pincushions

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.