It’s Not Done ’til it’s Overdone

This month I made a darling, little embroidery/needlework holder. Cute, huh? It was so fun to make and went together really quickly!

I wanted the case to be big enough that you could carry it in a tote bag and find it but not so big that it took up allll the space so I settled on this size (approximately 5.75” x 7.5”).

Press the fabric 1/4” to the back around all sides.

Cut the following :
a 3/4” x 7.5” strip of Kraftex
a 2” x 5.75” piece of Kraftex
a 4.5” x 11.5” piece of Kraftex
a 1 yard piece of ribbon, tied in a knot at one end

Place the 2” x 5.75” piece of Kraftex along the bottom right hand side of the 4.5” x 11.5” piece of Kraftex. Sew the smaller piece to the larger piece to create pockets. I chose to sew one seam to create two pockets but you could opt to not put in a seam and leave this as one large pocket, or sew more seams to create 3 pockets versus the two I have.

Put the fabric, right side facing out, on top of the 7.5” x 11.5” piece of Kraftex and put the pocket pieces on top of that.

Insert ribbon between the layers on the right side of the case. Use binding clips to secure the layers and sew 1/4” from the edge around the entire assembly.

Put the felt along the center left side of the case, then place the 3/4” x 7 1/2” strip on top.

Use binding clips to secure the top and bottom of the strip, then sew around all edges of the strip.

Now, I decided AFTER the case was made that I should decorate the front. It was soooo plain and needed a little life. I used a stencil I had on hand to add some birds and flowers.

Instead of paint, I used a purple sharpie. NOTE: I used a scrap of Kraftex to experiment with colors. Black was washed out, but purple was bold and gave me the look I wanted. Color theory in action 🙂

Originally I just had the birds on the front of the case, but I wasn’t pleased, so I added the flowers to cover the back of the case and peak onto the front. It wasn’t done ’til it was overdone THEN I was happy.

I recommend doing this BEFORE making the case. I was really nervous that I would mess up while stenciling. If you do this first and mess up you have another side you can use (since Kraftex is reversible) and you can cut another large piece and/or cut down this piece to use for the smaller pockets.

In the end, it worked out but wow! If I’d had a little foresight and all that.