{Christmas Crafting} Knitting Needle Roll

I have grand plans to make the perfect knitting needle / crochet hook rolls for Christmas presents. 

I've made a few different rolls in the past, trying out different patterns/methods each time and I just have not been satisfied. The construction was too juvenile looking, or just poor in general. 

A lot of them just didn't have enough space either.  I wanted the knitting needle roll to fit all normal sizes of of my straight needles, in both the 9-10inch and 13-14inch sizes. 

After MUCH measuring and re-measuring, and looking at various styles/designs of rolls online, I finally narrowed down the size and shape of the knitting needle roll. It did take a little bit of time to cut out all of the pieces, too. I chose my new obsession linen for the main fabric, and then the really pretty blue-ish fabric for the accent.

I designed the pattern so that I could use my AMAZING BINDER ATTACHMENT as much as possible. It is seriously amazing. GET ONE. 
 

I was actually REALLY proud of myself for  thinking through this entire pattern before I jumped in. I looked at the construction of others online in order to get the order of operations down. 

One way that my pattern differs from any that I've tried, is that I added a flap to one side that really makes it a lot nicer to roll up and tie.

Here are a few pics of the finished roll. I am totally obsessed with it. I absolutely love the pattern and I think it turned out amazing. Boasting much??

I gifted it to girlfriend of mine last night at a Christmas party, and she loved it! Of course, not before I had the chance to fill it with my knitting needles. I will definitely be making one for myself. I have every intention of making a roll for Straight Needles, Circular Needles, Double Pointed Needles, and Crochet Hooks. Those will each require different shaped and sized rolls, but now I have my strategy down and can easily alter the pattern. I am so excited!

How much would you pay for something  like this? I would love to make them and sell them and would totally love your input. Thankssss.

HOLLER & MERRY CHRISTMAS!

{Holiday Gifting} Silverware Sack

A good friend of mine approached me a year or two ago and said he had a pickle he was 

hoping I could help him get out of with the help of some handmade crafty goodness.

He said that he usually eats lunch at his desk, which most of us office slaves do. The dilemma is that he uses the same silverware everyday, and keeps the set in his desk drawer after he has eaten lunch and washed the silverware. Buttttt his said his desk drawer is kind of gross and full of pencil shavings (who uses pencils that have shavings? Engineers I guess?) and other crud that get all over his perfectly clean silverware. 


Thus came the trial, error, and eventual success that is the Silverware Sack. I wanted to call it the "Silverware Sacko", but my Husband wasn't sure how many of you would get The League reference. 

I actually went through 2 different versions of this Silverware Sack before I got the final model on the third try. I am not really a pattern writer, so it is often difficult for me to figure out the very best way to construct a project.

Here is my first try. For this one I used home decor weight fabric, which I thought would be plenty sturdy. If you take a look at the pictures below, you can see that the end product was a little flimsy. My buddy tested it out and said that he didn't like the feel of it, that it was far too flimsy. Also, I realized that it probably wouldn't survive the wash because the inside hem on the top was unfinished and would probably unravel after a few washes.


 




My second try was almost the polar opposite of the first one. The finished product actually ended up being too thick. I used Linen as the outer fabric, I interfaced that with a medium weight fusible interfacing, and then I lined the whole thing with quilting weight cotton. BOY was it thick. My super sturdy machine actually had quite a bit of trouble stitching through the last few steps too, as you can see in the pics below, because the feed dogs weren't properly feeding the fabrics through. I actually REALLY LOVED the color combination though. It might be my new favorite. I think that the linen color is almost a mustardy-chartreuse and the lining color was a really pretty winey-plum. Loved it. 










The third try was definitely the winner. I didn't use interfacing this time, but I still kept the lining fabric and used a heavier weight cotton on the exterior. I also cut 1 inch off the length because I thought that model 2 was just a little too long. At the end of the day, the Silverware Sack will probably take me 45 minutes to complete from picking and cutting fabric to putting the finishing touches on it. 

I am DEFINITELY making a bunch of these as Christmas presents for friends and family that 
work, and maybe even some coworkers if they are lucky! 

HOLLER!

Two-pocket Purse Portfolio? Pocketed Purse Organizer?

Not sure what exactly this will be called. Maybe I like the Pocketed Purse Organized better. Not that it realllyyy matters. 

I started outlining this project in an earlier post,and started working on the pattern. I followed all of my outlined instructions as seen at the previous post. 

Cut the Fabrics and Batting:  

Quilted the outer fabric,the orange-y print to the batting. 

Trimmed all those threads:

When I got to the step of sewing the two pieces of fabric, right sides together, I realized that my orange-y outer fabric shrunk a little bit, with all of the quilting. Maybe next time I would make the piece I'm going to quilt bigger, and then trim to size?

Sew the liner fabric to the orange-y quilted outer fabric with the right sides together. Noting that I left a 3-4 inch opening for turning my work right-side-out.

Ironed the edges flat after turning:

Did some topstitching:

Sewed around the whole thing to make the pockets and do the topstitching at the same time:

Finished product!

Compared to the original!

What do you think? I think that the copy cat is pretty close to the original version. I didn't include the string because I am pretty sure that was probably used for a bookmark in a notebook or something. I would consider adding a toggle or some type of other closure. ALSO... I would consider using a  1/4 seam allowance for topstitching as opposed to the 1/8 seam allowance that I did use. My machine did have some trouble going through all the fabric, even with the walking foot. Any topstitching suggestions for a smoother ride next time?

What have you copy-catted? Anything? Clothes? Other little sewed goods? Anything from Pottery Barn??

This knocks another item off my bucket list. If you are new to my blog, check out this page for more info on my bucket list, and this page for all of my finished projects! Be sure to check out my flickr page for other finished projects!

HOLLER!