Keep your needles safe

Make this nifty needle holder to store your crochet hooks and other items.

Size
Finished size of holder: width 28cm, length 21cm

You will need
• template for inner
• 30 x 23cm piece of cotton fabric in a large check design to match the colours of the crochet cotton, for the backing
• 18 x 23cm piece of cotton floral print to match the colours of the crochet cotton, for the pocket
• remnant of white loose-weave cotton, for pin holder
• 85cm length of ribbon tape with tape measure design
• iron-on interfacing
• matching coloured sewing thread
• dressmaker’s pencil and ruler

Fabric inner
Note A 1cm hem allowance has been included in all the measurements.

Template

1 Fold a 1cm hem around the edges of the backing fabric and press. Using matching coloured sewing thread, top-stitch the hem in place 5mm from the outer edge.
2 Apply interfacing to the wrong side of the floral fabric for the pocket divider. Fold a 2cm hem along the top edge; this will form the facing. Press. top-stitch the hem in place across the width.
3 Now fold a hem in place along the two side edges and the lower edge and press. Complete the hems with a top-stitch as given for the backing fabric.
4 Cut the ribbon tape to fit across the pocket plus a seam allowance at each end. Place the ribbon tape along the top edge of the pocket. Fold the raw edges of the tape over to the wrong side of the fabric at the side edges and stitch the tape in position along the top edge of the pocket, sewing along both sides of the tape. Work your stitching as close to the edge as possible and make sure you sew through all the layers of fabric.
5 From the remnant of white loose-weave cotton, cut out a heart motif. Place it at the centre of the left-hand side of the pocket. tack it in place down the centre of the motif, to stop it from slipping.
6 With right sides uppermost, place the pocket on top of the backing fabric. make sure the lower edges and the side edges of both the fabrics align.
7 Using a top-stitch, sew the pocket to the backing fabric along the side and lower edges following the original stitching line. Cut a length of the same ribbon tape 55cm long and fold it in half. Stitch the tape along this fold line to the midpoint of one side of the holder.
8 Using the template as a guide, and your dressmaker’s pencil and ruler, draw six equal compartments down the right-hand side of the pocket for the crochet hooks. Work a row of top-stitching along the pencil lines, stitching from the top edge of the pocket through to the hem, working through all the layers.
9 When you have completed the right-hand side of the holder, work the left-hand side. This time divide the section in half. When stitching the compartments, sew the heart motif in place. The outer edge of the heart is not stitched so it forms an ‘open book’ to store needles, pins and safety pins. Remove the tacking stitches.
10 Place the finished fabric inner on the wrong side of the crochet cover. Using small neat slip stitches in a matching coloured sewing thread, sew the fabric inner to the crochet cover as neatly as you can around all the edges.
11 To fasten your holder, roll it up from the side edge (the edge without the ribbon tie) to the other side. Tie the ribbon tape around the holder to secure.

Good idea
You could make a holder in exactly the same way to store your knitting needles. Simply change the height of the holder to accommodate the length of the needles and make each compartment wider so you can store a pair at a time. You may want to make the compartments different sizes according to the size of your knitting needles.

Crochet cover
You will need
• DK yarn in grey and yellow
• 4mm crochet hook
• tapestry needle
• embroidery scissors

Abbreviations
ch chain
dc double crochet
st stitch
tr treble
sp space
rep repeat

To make
Using grey DK yarn and 4mm hook, ch 50.
Row 1: dc in 2nd ch from hook, dc in every ch to end, ch 3, turn.
Row 2: [Skip 2dc, 3tr in next dc] 16 times, tr in last dc, fasten off.
Row 3: Join yellow in last tr made, 3ch, [3tr in next sp between tr-groups] 15 times, 2tr in top of 3-ch that started row 2, fasten off.
Row 4: Join grey in top of last tr made, 3ch, [3tr in next sp between tr-groups] 16 times, tr in top of 3-ch that started row 3, fasten off.
Rows 5-20: rep rows 3 and 4, end row 20 with 1ch, turn. Row 21: 1dc in every st of row 20, fasten off.

To finish
Work 2 rows of dc evenly on the left and right side of the piece. Work away any loose ends.