Featured Fabric: The Blank Quilting Corp. Autumn Blessings by Silas M. Studio

Pattern Design by: Sally Gauntlett

Sewn by: Sally Gauntlett

If you’re a knitter or even a crocheter, you’ll know that there can be a lot of tools involved when you’re working on a project and a lot of them can be very small and prone to getting lost. In today’s tutorial I’m showing you how to sew a handy knitting supply roll that is perfect for keeping all of your needles, tape measures, clips, scissors, and pins in one place. I hope you enjoy the project!

Skills Learned: Home sewing

Skill Level: Advanced Beginner

Finished Size: 20” wide x 17.5” high (50.8cm x 44.45cm)

FABRIC SUPPLIES

5 different fabric prints measuring approximately 40” x 21” (101.60cm x 53.34cm) each. You will have some fabric left over from this measurement. I used the following prints:

• Ditsy Floral – 3315-88 Red (Outer fabric)
• Autumn Leaves - 3320-41 Ivory (Inner fabric)
• Pumpkins with leaves –3318-22 orange (Large pocket and pincushion)
• Plaid – 3319-67 Teal (Binding, ties and pincushion)
• Autumn flowers - 3322-11 Lt Blue (Patch pocket and notions pouch)

You will also need one piece of fusible fleece or thin quilt wadding measuring the same size as the main fabric pieces given below.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

• Cutting mat (optional)
• Rotary cutter (scissors can be used here instead)
• Ruler
• Fabric pen or chalk marker
• Pins
• Safety pins
• Scissors
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• A machine quilting foot (optional)
• A sewing machine quilting foot (optional)
• One snap fastener for the notions pouch (notions pouch is optional)
• Polyester stuffing for the pin cushion
• A button for decoration

CUTTING MEASUREMENTS

You will need to cut the fabric to the following measurements.

• 1 x outer fabric 20 x 17.5”
• 1 x inner fabric 20 x 17.5”
• 1 x fusible fleece or wadding piece 20 x 17.5”
• 1 x pocket fabric 20 x 21”
• 1 x patch pocket fabric 5.5 x 6.5”
• 4 x strips of binding for edges 2 x 22 “
• 1 x strip of binding for tie strap 2 x 55”
• 2 x notions pouch pieces* (see below)
• 2 x pin cushion pieces 4 x 4”

*Please note that a tutorial and pattern piece for the notions pouch can be found here.

PREPARATION

If your wadding is fusible, fuse this to your outer fabric piece according to manufacturer’s instructions.

LET’S GET QUILTING

Step One: First, we need to form a quilt ‘sandwich’ with our outer, inner and wadding/fleece pieces. On a flat surface, place your backing fabric wrong side up, place your wadding on top of the outer fabric and your inner fabric on top again with the right side facing up.

The layer of wadding or fleece should be sandwiched in-between your inner and outer fabrics with the right sides of the fabrics facing outwards.

Secure the ‘sandwich’ together with some quilting or safety pins.

TIP: It can be helpful to iron the layers in place before pinning as this can temporarily fuse the fibres together.

Step Two: Using a chalk pencil or erasable fabric marker, draw lines from the top to the bottom of the quilt sandwich, 1” apart (you may need to re-jig your safety pin placement as you go).

TIP: If you’d prefer a different quilting pattern, feel free to use your own creative licence here! You can also make your quilting lines wider or narrower as you prefer.

Step Three: Using a quilting or walking foot if you have one, sew a straight line of stitching along each marked line from top to bottom using a long stitch length. Remove your safety pins as you go and make sure your fabric isn’t puckering on the underside.

Our quilting is done!

LET’S MAKE THE INNER POCKETS…

Step Four: Take your large pocket piece (20” x 21”) and fold it in half, wrong sides together. Press the fold in place.

Divide your pocket into three equal parts*. Then, draw a line in chalk to mark these measurements (this will be where the pouch will fold into thirds). Each third should measure approximately 6.5”.

*Creative licence: From here we can play around with the dividing stitch lines depending on what size needles you will be storing. In my design I have made two of the three pockets for storing knitting needles and the final third I have left as one large pocket with an additional patch pocket for storing larger items such as scissors. If you prefer, you may make all the thirds needle holders or switch it up and have two larger pockets and one for needle storage – it’s up to you!

For my design I used 1 – 1.5” stitch line dividers for housing different needle sizes.

TIP: Lining up your pocket lines with your quilting lines will give a neater finish.

Step Five: Before we attach our pocket to the outer case, we need to sew the patch pocket fabric (5.5" x 6.5”) onto the larger of the three sections we have just marked.

Take your patch pocket piece and fold and press under ½” with wrong sides together the longer edge. Fold and press again 1”, this time with right sides together as shown.

Stitch a short line from the top folded edge of the pocket down to the bottom pressed ½” fold. Do this on both sides back stitching at the top and bottom to secure the seams.

Step Six: Turn the fold of the pocket through to the right side. Poke out the corners and press in place.

Step seven: Your pocket fold should naturally be guiding the edges of your pocket to the inside by ½”. Press this fold in place and press ½” along the bottom edge too. This should create a nice neat, square pocket with all the raw edges enclosed on the inside. Topstitch along the top fold line.

Decide where you would like your patch pocket to sit on top of your inner pocket. Measure to check that it is sitting straight and pin in place.

Topstitch the pocket in place leaving the top edge open.

Step eight: Lie your large, inner pocket piece (with the patch pocket on it) on top of the inner fabric of your quilted case matching up the bottom and side edges of the pocket with the bottom and sides of the case.  Pin in place.

Step nine: Sew your large, inner pocket piece to your quilted case along your chalked lines using the same quilting method we used to quilt the outer case (be sure not to sew through the patch pocket). Make sure to backstitch at the top of the lines as these will come under a lot of stress when in use.

LET’S NEATEN THE RAW EDGES WITH BINDING

Step ten: Take your four binding strips to the ironing board. Fold and press the strips in half along the long length. Press each long, raw edge in again to meet the centre fold. Press in half to create a strip of binding which looks like my example in the picture below.

Note: Since we will be binding only straight edges in this project, it’s fine to cut the fabric on the straight grain rather than on the bias.

Step eleven: Leaving a length of approximately 1” at each end, pin a strip of binding to the top and bottom of the quilted case matching raw edges. The binding will face inwards towards the case. Stitch in place along the pressed line.

Step twelve: Trim the seam down by half. Fold your binding over to the back of the case and pin in place making sure to cover the stitch line you’ve just sewn.

Stitch ‘in the ditch’ along the bias binding ensuring you catch the edge of the binding underneath as you go. Trim any excess binding at the edges when you’re done.

Note: Stitching ‘in the ditch’ simply means stitching in the crease of the seam you’ve just sewn rather than on top of the binding. This will make the stitch line less visible. 

Step thirteen: Take your remaining strip of binding and pin to the side edges in the same way as before but this time fold the edges of the binding in to the wrong side to create a neat, enclosed edge. Pin and stitch the binding in place as before.

Fold your binding over to the back of the case and pin in place making sure to cover the stitch line you’ve just sewn.

Stitch ‘in the ditch’ along the bias binding ensuring you catch the edge of the binding underneath as you go.

SEW THE NOTIONS POUCH (OPTIONAL)

If you wish to add a notions pouch as I have here, you can find my full tutorial here (https://blog.siysewityourself.com/2023/07/14/zipper-project-bag-coordinating-notions-pouch/ ). Sew up your notions pouch and meet me back here at step fourteen.

Step fourteen: Decide where you would like to place your notions pouch on the inner case and secure with a few hand or machine stitches. If you prefer, you can attach the notions pouch using a piece of Velcro so that it is removable.

SEW THE TIE

Step fifteen: Were almost done! To create the tie, take your final binding piece of fabric and press in the same way as we did to create the binding for the edges but this time, fold the short edges in before pressing to create neat ends.

Sew a line of topstitching all the way along your binding to enclose the raw edges and create a long tie.

Step sixteen: Fold your pouch in three as if folding to close. Flip the case over to the back and place the tie directly in the centre of the top and sides. Secure the tie in place with either hand or machine stitches.

You can now tie your case in a neat bow to close!

LET’S SEW THE PINCUSHION

Step seventeen: Take your pincushion pieces and place them right sides together. Pin and sew around each edge with 3/8” seam allowance leaving a gap of around 1” on one side for turning through.

Step eighteen: Turn the pincushion through to the right side and poke out the corners to neaten. Stuff the cushion with your polyester stuffing and secure the gap with hand stitches.

Step nineteen: Place the button in the centre of your pincushion and sew in place. Pull the stitches tight, this will create more ‘puffiness’ in the pincushion.

And we’re all done, don’t they look cute together!

I really hope you enjoyed sewing up your knitting supplies case. The great news is that the formula for this case can be used for all sorts of supplies such as crochet hooks, pencils, DIY tools etc and you can be as creative with the pockets as you like!

If you give this tutorial a go, please do share a photo on Instagram and tag me @secret_life_of_a_seamstress so that I can see it.  Don’t forget to tag @siysewityourself too.

Happy sewing!

Sally x

Fabric Details:

To view the complete The Blank Quilting Corp. Autumn Blessings by Silas M. Studio, click here.

To find a retailer near you click here.

Learn more about Sally here.

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