DIY Felt Needle Book With Leftover Bits and Bobs
Everyone that sews or embroiders has a pin cushion, but what about a needle case that you can take with you while you travel? This DIY felt needle book tutorial is the perfect size to fit in your purse or suitcase. It also makes a great gift! The best part is that you can use leftover craft supplies such as ribbon, felt, thread, and buttons to make it!
Supplies Needed
You can use pretty much any supplies you want for this project. However, I definitely recommend using a high quality wool felt for the needle book. Synthetic wool is more fragile and easily stretches which you definitely don’t want!
- Embroidery floss
- Anything else you want to decorate with like yarn, ribbon, and seed beads
- Wool felt in various colors
- Frixion pen or Stick N’ Stitch
- Embroidery hoop (3in)
- Embroidery needle
- Interfacing – can be fusible or sew in
- 1-2 buttons
- scissors
- rotary cutter and mat (optional)
- sewing machine (optional if you don’t want to sew by hand)
Cutting Out The Felt Pieces
You can make the needle book any size you want, but the dimensions listed below are the size I made my little needle book. It fits embroidery scissors and sewing needles nicely.
- Two 4 x 6 inch pieces of felt for the inside pages of the case
- Two 4.5 x 6.5 inch pieces for the needle book cover
- One 2.5 x 1.5 piece for the clasp
- One 2.5 x 2.5 inch square for a pocket
- One 4 x 6 inch piece of interfacing
You may want to cut an extra piece of felt to secure with a button at the top of the pocket if you plan on storing scissors inside of the needle book.
How To Make A Needle Book
The first thing I worked on was the sheets of felt that will go on the inside of the needle case.
The 4 x 6 sheets of felt for the inner pages will be folded in half, so make sure that you place all of the pockets and decorations along one side and not in the middle.
I wanted to use a vintage handkerchief for a pocket but it was very thin, so I secured it to the square piece of felt first. Then I placed it on the right-hand side of the felt and attached it using a blanket stitch.
You can attach any ribbon or additional pockets you’d like. I attached a scrap of decorative ribbon using a feather stitch and French knots.
For the outside, I drew a design directly onto the front of the felt. You can also use stick and stitch stabilizer if it’s easier.
Keep in mind where the button and strip of felt will be when the case is closed when you’re planning this out.
Once you’re happy with the design, you can place the felt into your embroidery hoop and get to stitching! I don’t have a step by step embroidery tutorial for this one, but it’s so much fun to loosen up and get creative! If you need some ideas, this video has some.
Once you’re done, remove any marks or stabilizer. If you need to rinse off the felt, make sure to allow it to air dry completely before moving on.
Sandwich the 2nd piece of felt, interfacing, small felt piece for the clasp, and the embroidered piece together. Secure with pins and sew together using a blanket stitch.
If you want the stitches to be more discreet, you can use embroidery thread that matches the color of the felt.
Place the felt pages inside the book and secure with pins. Fold the book in half and stitch along the folded edge using a running stitch or back stitch.
Secure the button to the front and cut a small slit in the felt piece that will be used as the clasp. If needed, you can reinforce the button hole.
Now comes the fun part: putting all your sewing notions inside!
Amanda is a hand embroidery teacher and artist. With over 15 years of experience in the craft industry and embroidery, she owns and runs Crewel Ghoul, sharing accessible tutorials and patterns to help inspire fellow crafters to get creative. In addition to running this website, she teaches on Skillshare and Youtube.
