Felt Needlebook

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Felt Needlebook

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Does your mom sew, quilt, embroider or need an occasional needle? Give your Mom a homemade felt needlebook this Mother's Day to help keep track of needles. You can embellish the book with a variety of appliques. Project designed by Molly Kozera

Felt Needlebooks


Felt Donut Pin Cushion



Once you have an adorable felt needlebook, make this Felt Donut Pin Cushion!



 



Materials:

  • Eco Felt (1 color for book, 1-3 colors for applique)
  • Button
  • Felt glue stick
  • Needle and thread
  • scissors

Instructions:

For the first one I started with a rectangle of eco-felt that, when folded up, would fit comfortably in the hand yet not something so small it would get lost in a quilting bag (you can see the measurements on the grid).

Eco-Felt

And for aesthetics I trimmed the corners off the side that will make the closure.

Trim for ClosureSide

Once you've got your size figured out and how it will close, sew on the button and sew on any appliques. I did hearts for this one and I recommend using a felt glue to stick them on before you stitch around them, just so they stay in place evenly and don't end up crooked like mine. :)

Finished Needlebook

I stitched around each heart all the way to give them a "poufy" sort of look and to make sure they were securely attached.

Heart Applique

Now that you know how big your book is, cut the rectangles that will make the "pages" of the book. I recommend five pages - two to line the covers and three that will be loose.

Felt layers

Using a felt-glue I adhere a piece to the inside of each cover - this will add some thickness and help stiffen it while it also covers the stitches from your button and applique.

And don't forget to cut your button hole! :)
You can also cut your cover support as one chunk it just so happened I forgot to do that with this one. Each book I make ends up completely different, but they all work.

 Cut Cover Support

I like leaving just a bit of space between my interior cover and the outside edge.

Space between layers 

Carefully line up the three interior pages and close the cover - now you're ready to stitch the whole thing together!

Stitch Layers

For all my stitching I use embroidery floss that I've divided in half. The regular size is a combination of six indivual threads...

Embroidery Floss 1

Embroidery Floss 2 

and dividing it will give you three - still strong but easier to work with and doesn't look so bulky.

Diving Floss

The first needlebook I made I hid my knots inside the last page and the back cover, but I found it made my binding really uneven, so if you are more expert in this area than myself (and that wouldn't take much!) it keeps your cover nice and clean. This time around I put my needle through back to front and made a series of six stitches like so...

Stitching Needlebook

My subsequent stitches placed so as to cover my knot. I think it was easier! My finished needlebooks made using only supplies on hand (woohoo destash-along!):

Felt  Needlebooks

Some variations I made:

Instead of making the front cover have a huge flap I used an extra scrap to make this which I adhered using felt glue and then stitched to secure.

Flap

I put my stitches on an angle. And don't worry they weren't this big or horribly spaced that's just as well as I can draw using MSPaint.

Stitching Diagram

Another variation was to make a pocket in the back for storing those long needle things (you can tell I know what I'm doing when I use terms like that) or maybe a small pair of scissors. I simply cut my piece extra long, then folded it up and stitched the sides together.

Pocket in Book

This piece is glued to the back as the back cover support.

There you have it! No more losing a needle in the carpet and finding it with your foot! Or going to a quilting group and digging around your bag thinking don't I have needles in here somewhere? Ow, ow, ow. Found them.

Happy stitching!

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I'm searching for teacher gifts, and this might be perfect. I need to make several, and I think this will be quick enough. Thanks!

it might be an idea to print instructions along side the picture and it would cut down on paper usage and also inks, you have some lovely crafts

awesome great instructions

This is sew wonderful.

Simple and clear instructions! Cute too!

Molly, This is a fantastic idea! I'm so glad you're sharing it. I have tons of scrap felt from toys I made for my family-ful of kids, halloween costumes, etc. This is a great way to destash those things and give my mom, mother-in-law and my many sewing/crochet/knit/spinning/you name it we all do it, crafting friends too! Blessings to you! This is a totally easy and cool idea! Cannot wait to make some of my own. Anne pas3@verizon.net

love it

I like it better than Martha's! (Stewart that is) I'm going to have to go see what eco felt and felt glue are but I have to make me one. Thanks for the pictorial. I have to 'see' what I'm about to make or I can't do it. Cute!

Wow this is cool...nice n simple but looks lovely .) Thank U for taking the time to show us all ...take care crafting hugs De

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