Hexagon Needle Book ~ Tutorial

After looking all over for a cute hexagon shaped needle case tutorial, I kept coming up empty. I started by making this one, which was inspired by one I saw in a magazine but it was really fussy and I didn’t like all the thread globs from starting and stopping the stitching. I was looking for a clean simple design – just like the hexagons I’ve been piecing! So after a few more attempts, I came up with this. It’s not too fiddly, is quick to come together and you’ll have a cute needle case when you’re all done!

Bear with me – this is my very first tutorial.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Outer fabric: two 4.5” squares

Inner fabric: two 4.5” squares, one 1.5”x 5” piece (for “hinge” piece, not pictured)

Fusible interfacing: two 2” hexagons

Felt: one piece approx. 7" x 3.5"

Four 2 inch and two 1.75 inch hexagon templates (you can print these up here)

Sewing machine and thread

DIRECTIONS:

First, let’s make the hexagons. We need to make four hexagons: two with the outer fabric and two with the inner fabric. You can baste the hexagons using the 2 inch templates as a stabilizer (just like regular paper pieced hexagons) or you can join the Lazy Crafter’s Club and just press them around the template, which is what I do.

Once you have your four hexagons be sure to press them well so that they will hold their shape and have nice crisp edges. Remove paper templates, if using.

Gently open up the outer fabric hexagons and place one of your fusible interfacing hexies inside, fusible side down. I actually cut mine down to be a little smaller than 2 inch hexies so it's easier to fit them nicely inside there.

Carefully fold back the edges so that you have a nice tidy hexagon again. Press well. Repeat for the other outer hexagon.

Your hexagons are done!

Next, take your 1.5” x 5” piece of inner fabric (or whatever you’re using for your hinge piece (mine is a scrap of brown linen/cotton) and press ends under (1/2 inch) and then press in half so that you have a piece that measures 1.5” x 2”.

Now let’s tackle the felt! I like the pages of my needle book to be slightly smaller than the cover so I use the 1.75 inch hexagon template. I make a larger template by placing the two hex templates side by side, with a half inch space between them. This extra space is to make room for the hinge part at the fold of the needle book. It should look like this:

Use this template to cut out your felt.

Yay! You now have all the pieces needed for your needle book. Let’s assemble!

Take one outer hexie and one inner hexie and sandwich them wrong sides together. I put one pin in each side to hold everything so things don’t get shifty. On the side where your needle book will fold, tuck your hinge piece in about 1/2 inch.

Sew along the edge all around the hexagon sandwich. Keep your stitching very close to the edge.

Repeat for the other hexagon, tucking in the hinge piece again so that there’s about 1/8 inch between the two hexies for the fold. Like this:

Almost done! Take your felt and center it inside your needle book.

Stitch along the center attaching the felt to the hinge.

That's it. You did it! Admire your fabulous new needle case!

If you make one, I'd love to know!