How and Why to Make a Needle Book

I have to admit that I am not at all careful when it comes to storing my needles for cross stitch, embroidery and hand sewing. Sometimes I will put them back in the package they came in, but just as often I’ll leave them on my desk when I’m done with them, leaving me with no real idea where my needles are when I need them.

The good news is there’s a crafty way to solve this problem and it’s making a needle book.

A needle book can be as simple as a piece of felt folded in half that you stick your needles in for storage, but of course we are crafters, so it’s likely we’re going to want to do a little bit more than that.

I came across a good tutorial from Crewel Ghoul recently that should give you some ideas for how to make and embellish your own needle book.

Hers is made with a couple of sheets of felt but the embellishment really makes it something special. She’s stitched on some ducks and flowers on the front cover, and inside the pockets are made from a vintage handkerchief and some lace, embellished with more stitching.

The outside is finished with blanket stitch and a button closure.

Of course you don’t have to make yours in the same way. You can use leftover bits of fabric in your stash, vintage elements, a favorite button. Use embroidery or cross stitch to decorate the front of the book, or make a collage out of fabric. You could embroider your initials or do a sampler of different stitches. Just whatever sounds fun to you!

Check out the post at Crewel Ghoul to see how it all comes together. Do you have a needle book? Did this inspire you to want to make one? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]

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How to Store Embroidery Needles

The post over at The Crafty Mummy has the click-baity title of “Is there a right or wrong way to cross stitch?” Of course the answer is no. As with any other craft, as long as you are happy with the results you’re doing it right and no one should try to convince you otherwise.

That said, there are things that you can do to make your cross stitch a little better if you aren’t totally happy with the way your projects are looking. They might not be considered the “right way,” but they are important things to think about and if you want to deviate from these “rules” at least you’ll know that you’re doing it.

You can head over there to read all the tips, but it’s things like making sure your stitches are all going in the same direction (meaning you stitch the bottom legs of a row all in the same direction, then work back and stitch all the top legs in the same direction). You wouldn’t think something like that would make a huge difference until you don’t do it and then you can’t unsee it.

Most of things things aren’t rules so much as they are reminders to be consistent in what you are doing as you work a project. So however you start doing things like stitch direction or the number of strands of floss (I might even add using a hoop versus not, since the hoop can stretch the fabric and change the tension of the stitches a bit) you should continue in that way throughout the project in order for it to look its best.

Head over to The Crafty Mummy to read the rest of her list, then come back here if you have something to add. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: The Crafty Mummy]

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