I enjoy feathering my nest with nifty gadgets and things that manage to be at once pretty and useful.  I especially like to make my own accessories like scissor keeps and velvet boards, and of course the bobbins I showed you yesterday.  Like many enthusiasts, I have an impressive stash of different kinds of scissors, thread organisers, work bags and boxes.  And lots and LOTS of pins and needles.  For a while now, I have been keeping my needles in their original packaging, bundled together in a little plastic bag, with a goodly number sloshing around loose in the bottom of my work box, waiting to stab unwary fingers.  I have been looking for a pretty needle book that is big enough to house my burgeoning collection, in a way that would allow me to have some kind of filing system to stop my sharps mingling with my crewels, and my betweens rubbing shoulders with my Japanese silk embroidery needles…  After extensive digging around the internet, I found nothing that fitted the bill.  All the needlebooks, even the supposedly “large” needlebooks, had only two or four pages and were little square things. very pretty, but not what I had in mind.  So I made my own, here it is:

Needle book front cover
Needle book front cover

It is about 10 cm x 13 cm, with six big pages all in brightly coloured felt.  It was a good excuse to get to grips with my second hand Husqvarna viking  embroidery machine, using some bargain space-dyed rayon threads picked up from the internet.  The sewing pattern for the book was very much made up as I went along, but it turned out quite well.

Needle book pages

I soon got started filling it up, needles on every page, with my flower-head pins inside the front cover, and safety pins inside the back cover…

Stocking up the needle book

 

My favourite feature on it is this dangly felt flower on the spine.

flower toggle
flower toggle

It holds the ribbon in a loop so it can hang on a hook or a clip, but it also has a secret additition.  Inside the felt flower is a very tiny neodymium rare earth magnet.  these magnets are small but immensely strong – don’t get them too close to your watch or credit card!  Inside the flower toggle, the magnet can be put to several uses.  It will find and pick up any dropped pins or needles.  It will easily support the weight of the needle book, so you can have it attached to a nearby lamp stand or other metallic object.  But mostly what the magnet does is hold on very nicely to my scissors!

keeping my scissors safe!

Since making the prototype, two people have asked me to make needle books for them, which I am more than happy to do – clearly I am not the only person who thinks needle books are just too small!

Please do contact me if you would like a needle book made – they are £15 with the neodymium magnet toggle, and £13.50 without, and any money made will go into funding the equipment and materials required for my RSN course (I am currently trying to raise £115 for the first module’s materials starter pack).   A choice of colours is available. I will try to get a page up and running in the near future with a gallery of items available for sale or commission.

 

 

Published by emmafrith76

I am an embroiderer, learning to craft my art with the Royal School of Needlework in the studio of my tutor, Tracy Franklin. I am a vicar's wife and children's church volunteer., and yes, I really do bake and make jam. I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. My wheelchairs and my scooter are my freedom and I love them.

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3 Comments

  1. Wow Emma, that needlebook is lovely and the magnet is such a nifty idea. Could I put in a request for two? I have two people in mind that they would make perfect gifts for. Also, are you still interested in writing about your clergy spouse experiences for my Clergy Spouse Support blog? If you can find time in the midst of all your crafting it would be great to put up a post from you – I was especially interested in your suggestion of talking about having a disability as a clergy spouse. Hope you’re well, Georgie.

    1. Hi Georgie – yes I am happy to do you an article of some description! As to the needle books then yes, I would love to do you some. A word of warning though, I have just started my first 16 week RSN module so I am very tied up time wise just now. Do you need them quickly? And what sort of colours/design are you after?

  2. Thank-you, that would be great, just email it to clergyspousesupport@outlook.com whenever it’s done. No rush on the needle books either, I am trying to be organised and gather gifts well in advance of when they are needed! In terms of colour and design I didn’t have anything specific in mind as I don’t have a great eye for these things, feel free to let your creativity flow!

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