Tutorial: make a needle case with pockets

I made a tiny travel sewing kit right before DragonCon, something I could tuck in my bag in case of costume malfunctions. As it happens I needed it a couple of times. It wasn't fancy--I threw it together in about an hour--and I didn't take pictures as I made it so I didn't think about talking about it here.

That's what it looks like, above. This week I thought about what project to make and decided to make another sewing kit. I looked around online to get some ideas and decided a needle case with pockets would be even better.

I have some brown felt that I bought a bunch of on sale and haven't figured out anything to do with yet. It has a cool pattern and I decided it would look good at the main part of the piece. I have some reddish-brown cotton that looks good as the lining.

The needle case is about the same size as the original sewing kit I made, roughly the size of a small postcard. (In fact I used a postcard to help me cut out the pieces). The finished size, opened, is 5 1/2" wide by 4 1/4" high. I cut the main piece of felt exactly that size, the lining a little bit bigger all around. I also cut the lining much longer so I could fold it up and make a pocket. And I cut a smaller piece of felt for the middle.

Now, I am not a very organized person and I probably could have had an easier time with the lining and pocket if I'd made them two pieces instead of one. You can see from the pictures below that I had to fold the edges under one way to sew the lining to the back, then fold them the other way on the bottom part of the lining when I folded it up to make the pocket.

I sewed the lining on first, all the way around, using a nice neat topstitch. At least, it started out neat and got sloppy pretty fast as I got impatient. I don't know why I decided to hand-sew this, but I did. I watched an entire Sherlock Holmes movie while I did, and part of Kick-Ass after it was over.

Then I decided the case should close with a button and loop. I have some cool wooden buttons that are reddish, so I chose one and some brown cord that I really like (I think this is the third project it's ended up in). I sewed the button on, then made sure the loop was positioned correctly and sewed it up in between the front and back of the pocket. Then I sewed the other side of the pocket up.

After that, all I had left to do was sew the felt piece on in the middle. I trimmed it with pinking shears to make it more decorative, then carefully marked where the piece folded in the middle when I closed it. That took several tries. Then I put a seam in all the way down the middle. And that's it, it was done!

I'm happy with the way it looks and I think I did a pretty good job making it. I don't need it, so it may eventually end up on etsy when I have enough stuff made to reopen my shop.