Every small studio accumulates needles. Sharps for hand sewing, betweens for quilting, a curved needle that comes out for exactly one job, a packet of fine embroidery needles that somehow always splits. Kept loose in a tin they dull and rust against one another; left in their paper packets they vanish within a week. A folding wool case solves the problem in an afternoon of hand sewing, and it uses precisely the sort of small, naturally dyed scraps that build up once you start working with slow textiles.
Wool is the right material for the job. Its fibres grip the shaft and the eye of a needle, so nothing slides out when you turn the case upside down, and the lanolin in a fleece-rich cloth helps keep rust at bay. Dense, fulled wool is best: an old blanket, a felted jumper, or a handwoven sample that came off the loom smaller than you hoped. Nothing in this project needs to be precious.
The list is short, and you will probably have most of it already:
If your wool is loose or loosely woven, full it before cutting: wash it in hot water with a little soap, rinse in cold, and let it dry flat. The shock of the temperature change draws the fibres together into a dense, needle-friendly cloth that will not fray away to nothing at the edges. Naturally dyed wool works beautifully here — madder reds, weld yellows, the soft browns that onion skins give — but expect the colour to soften with time.
Cut the cover piece first. Trim the four corners into gentle curves, taking off about 5mm, so the finished case rubs comfortably against a hand or a pocket. Fold the cover in half crosswise so it measures 12cm x 9cm, and press the fold firmly with a warm iron or your thumbnail. That crease is the spine of the case, and a crisp one makes everything that follows easier.
Now centre the two page pieces on the inside of the cover, so they straddle the spine fold with roughly 5mm of cover showing all the way round. Clip or pin them in place. At this stage the case should already look like the thing it is going to be, which is the best moment to adjust the proportions if you want a wider or slimmer case.
Running stitch does nearly all the work in this project. Use a single length of thread, knot the end, and bring the needle up between the page layers so the knot is hidden. Keep your stitches small and even, 3mm to 4mm, and pick up only a couple of threads of each layer as you go, so the surface stays flat rather than puckered.
Stitch the two pages to each other down the centre line first, working one row through both thicknesses and back again if you want extra firmness. Then, opening the pages out, stitch the page block to the cover along the same centre line, passing through the spine of the cover each time. Use backstitch for this join: it is slower, but it will not pull open when the case is full and being handled daily.
Finally, run a line of running stitch 4mm in from the outer edges of the cover to firm the wool and give a neat finish. Blanket stitch around the same edge is a traditional alternative if you like the look, though it takes considerably longer.
Fold the case closed and decide which half will be the front. Sew the button to the outside of that half, roughly 15mm in from the edge and centred vertically. Build a small shank — a few wraps of thread beneath the button — so the wool has room to sit underneath without straining.
For the loop, twist two strands of thread into a firm cord, or fold a strip of wool 6cm x 1cm into three along its length and stitch it flat. Attach the loop to the opposite edge with backstitch, going through every layer you can reach. Test it over the button before you fasten it down properly, and allow a little slack: the case will sit fatter once it holds needles than it does empty.
Fill the case by type rather than by size. Sharps on one page, betweens on the other, and the inside of the cover left plain or given a small wool strip for pins. A few stitches in a contrasting naturally dyed thread will label each page if your handwriting-free system tends to drift.
Keep the case dry, because damp is what rusts needles, and wool holds moisture longer than you might expect. If it grows grubby, hand wash it in cool water with a little gentle soap, reshape it while damp, and dry it flat away from direct sun, which will fade light-sensitive dyes. Stored needles last well in wool, thanks to that residual lanolin.
Made well, this case costs nothing but an afternoon and will outlive several packets of shop-bought needles. Make a second one for a friend, in a different dye pot colour, and you have a gift that carries a little of your studio with it.
The Indigo Garret shares practical, down-to-earth guidance on natural dyeing, hand sewing and slow textile crafts for small studios for readers across the UK.
Leave A Comment