Knitting Needle Case

I'm sick and tired of trying to find my knitting needles. Most of mine are bamboo, so no color coordination to help me out, which leaves me digging through my (ginormous) yarn basket in search of it's twin. I swear, my yarn basket is like a clothes dryer that eats socks. It's a giant PITA.

It's clearly time to do something about this situation. Once again, I put on my craft thinking cap and pulled together my random pieces of fabric (I may have a slight over-buying problem, over the next few weeks you'll see several projects with the same fabric because it was a) pretty and b) on super clearance at 2 bucks a yard). I now have a pretty knitting needle case to keep everyone together. Woot!

To start, I cut a piece of plain cream fabric 28 x 20 inches. I mostly use 14 inch needles, so need the height. And yes, I did get super lazy and neglect to iron. Do as I say, not as I do, and iron. Please. Yous will look much better if you do. Take one shorter side and fold it up about 10 inches. Mark where it will end up. This will be your large pocket.

Next, I decided to use the remaining pieces of an old pair of jeans that have been used in various crafts over the past year or so. I was especially wanting the back pocket. I used it and a piece of the leg for the smaller pockets. Take your fabric pieces (in my case, jeans) and pin it on the right side of the large pocket. Sew in place, leaving the top edge open. 

Now, that rectangle of jeans. Sew down it to form segments. These will be your smaller pockets. I made one skinny one for a crochet hook, and then made the rest about 2 inches wide, since most of my shorter needles are circs and take up more room. It's really hard to see in the pic, but it's there.

Remember how we marked the fabric? Fold the large pocket back up to that mark and sew up the sides. Again, leave the top open. Then sew in the pocket dividers like you did for the shorter pockets. You should now have a large set of pockets, with a smaller set in front. I left one half without dividers to hold a pattern book, etc. 

Here comes the fun part. And I use the term fun in not at all the normal sense. 

With the large pocket sewn, your case should currently be about 18 x 20. Cut a piece of batting 20 x 22 and a piece of your shell fabric 22x24 (I always leave plenty of extra room, you can down that if you are confident in your cutting abilities). Lay the shell fabric right side down, center the batting on the shell fabric, then center your lining (the pockets) on the batting. Pin in place. 

Now cut off the extra batting and shell fabric. You need about 1/4 inch of batting extending from the lining on all sides, and a good 1 to 1-1/2 inches of shell fabric.

This next part is like doing a self binding quilt. I chose to do mitered corners, which I have no chance of adequately explaining. There are several good tutorials online, I suggest looking through those to find one you're comfortable with. I searched "self binding quilt mitered corners" and used one of those tutorials. When that's done pinning, it should look like this.

Sew around. Now it's time to add the closure. I still had some of that black and white ribbon from the kindle sleeve left, so I used it. I folded my case into thirds, and wrapped the ribbon around it to measure. I sewed the ribbon in place along one of the binding seams, so one end is long while the other is much shorter. This way when the case is rolled up, one end wraps around and ties back to the exposed edge. 

Now it's time to fill the case with goodies! See why I wanted the back pocket of my jeans? It's perfect for holding my Knit Kit, measuring tape, and stitch markers in their little packets.