Knitting Needle Case Tutorial

A year ago, my sister taught me basic knitting techniques.  It was actually quite addicting for a while (just very time consuming).  I currently have a large bag full of all types of knitting needles (they used to belong to my Grandmother, but she is sadly no longer with us), and no way to organize them.  I figured my sister probably had a similar problem, so as a Christmas gift, I decided to make her a knitting needle case.  I found a few tutorials online here and here, but I wanted slightly different characteristics and dimensions in my case.  I wanted to be able to hold a LOT of needles in all different gauges/lengths, including circular needles.  I used the above tutorials as ideas, but made up most of my case as I went along.  Here's how I did it...

 

 Supplies

• 24"x44" Solid Fabric
• Print Fabric, cut into one 24"x6" piece, and two 24"x5" pieces
• Bias tape in a coordinating color (about 4 1/4 yd) cut into three 24" strips, and one 78" strip
• Coordinating color thread (I used invisible/clear thread for most of it)

Directions

•   With wrong side of solid fabric facing you, fold top short edge down 1".  Sew one of the short strips of bias tape to this fold (edge"A" in the diagram... sorry I forgot to make the diagram show the 1" fold).
• Sew a short strip of bias tape to the bottom short edge of the solid fabric (edge "B" in the diagram).
• With wrong side of solid fabric still facing you, fold the fabric as shown in the diagram (it wouldn't hurt to mark the insides of the folds with a fabric marker or chalk...I can never get the fabric markers to actually mark).
• Sew the third short strip of bias tape to edge "C" (you'll have to partially unfold the fabric to do this).
• Set this piece aside.
• Taking the 24"x"6" strip of printed fabric, lay with the wrong side up.  Fold top edge (one of the long sides) in 1/2", then 1/2"again.  Sew a 1/4" seam.  Set aside.

•  Take the 24"x5" print pieces
• First piece (this will be the ribbon strip that runs along the back): fold in half longways (hotdog style) with right sides together.  Sew 1/4" seam along the long edge.  Turn right side out, and press flat.
• Second piece (this will be the tie): fold in half longways (hotdog style) with right sides together, then again hamburger style with the short edges together.  Starting from the long fold, cut the short edges to a slightly rounded 45-degree angle.  Unfold the last fold, and sew 1/4" seam along the long edge and one of the angled cuts (leave about 1.5" on the other end to turn).  Turn right side out, and hand stitch 2nd angled edge closed.  Press flat with the long seam down the middle.  Top stitch 1/4" from each edge all the way around the tie.

Tie sewn inside-out

Finished tie

•  Refold solid piece of fabric as in the above diagram.  Lay with right side up (folded side down).  Lay the print ribbon across the center of the folded solid fabric (side-to-side, not top-to-bottom) and pin down.  

• Unfold the solid fabric and stitch down the ribbon with a 1/4" seam (make sure it is unfolded so that you do not sew the folds together just yet).

•  Mark 1" in from the right side of the ribbon, then another 1.5" in from that.  Center the tie over these marks and sew the tie to the back layer in a 1.5" square (see the pictures below).

•  Refold the solid piece of fabric as in the above diagram, and lay with folds facing up.  Lay the 24"x6" print piece from earlier down as in the diagram (this will be the third row of needle slots and will not be completely attatched to the panel behind it). Starting 1/2" from either the right or left side, make a mark every 1.5 inches (use a fabric marker or chalk; don't be an idiot like me and use pencil... it's very hard to erase :).  For the bottom two folds, I made about four spaces 3" apart for my circular needles.

•  Sew along these lines through all layers, making sure you don't accidentally sew the tie down on the back.  I used clear/invisible thread just to keep the outside of the case more aesthetically pleasing.  For the top 1.5" fold, I sewed this down every 3" to hold the needles in place (sewing it every 1.5" will make it hard to pull out the longer, thicker needles).

 You're almost finished!!

• Sew the long piece of bias tape all the way around the edge of the case, making sure to catch all of the layers.

Now, you're finished!!! Load up your needles, and roll it up!