Sunday, January 23, 2011

Tutorialish - Crochet hook case from a dish towel

Hello, and welcome to episode one of Tutorialish. I'm calling this Tutorialish, because I am really not good at taking step by step pictures of stuff. When I'm making stuff, I just want to do, and not take 15 minutes setting up a perfect photo for every step.  Those of you that can, yay you! You have drive and dedication, and I salute you. I'm too busy and too ADHD, however, so you'll get nothing and like it!!! Well, you'll get something, just nothing spectacular.

I'm also calling this tutorialish, because to call it a tutorial, I somehow feel like I would be making claim to this being some groundbreaking new idea that no one in the multiple universes (yes, the multiverse, I'm on board) had ever thought of before, and essentially saying, "I AM THE FIRST! BOW TO MY BRILLIANCE, PEASANT!"  And I really doubt that I'm the first person to ever do this. But here is how I did it, if anyone cares :)

I am ALWAYS losing crochet hooks, or else I end up buying new ones because I don't think I have that size, and then when I get home I find that I DO have that size. I really wanted to make a crochet hook case to help remedy these problems. I was going to just use fabric and sew one up, but I had this dish towel that I really loved. It seemed so bright and springy, and it was so cold and gloomy here. It seemed perfect. So I set about figuring out a way to use it to make a hook roll.


So here is the dish towel. I folded it in half and ironed the fold.




Then, I ironed on some interfacing to half of the towel. I'd say this is probably a medium weight. I just used what I had lying around.




Then I folded it back in half, and pinned. I decided I was going to use a zigzag stitch in a contrasting color around the edges, so I pinned it wrong sides together. I definitely think wrong sides together is the way to go if you are using a dish towel. The hems that are already on the dishtowel would make a right side together seam way too bulky.

You will also note here that I took this opportunity to insert some ribbon for my closure. This should go on one side of the roll (your choice) and will be wrapped around and tied after the case is rolled up. If this makes no sense, check out the last couple of pictures right now - those will hopefully help.

Remember when placing your ribbon, part of this big piece of fabric you have is going to be folded up to make the pocket, and part of it will also be folded down to make a little barrier at the top (to help keep things from falling out), so you won't stick the ribbon smack dab in the middle - you will have to do a bit of figuring before deciding where to put it. Again, you may want to see the later pictures to better understand what I am saying here.

If you ARE sewing with right sides together, remember that your ribbon should be pinned in so that the loose ends are sandwiched between your two pieces of fabric, not hanging out like this.

Ok, so your interfacing is ironed on, your ribbon is pinned in - time to sew up the sides. Just sew up all three open sides. Like I said, I used a contrasting thread in a zigzag stitch,which was apparently stupid, because I had never used a zigzag stitch before and it didn't go very well.... live and learn! Next time, zigzag... next time.



Ok, the sides are all sewn up, and it's time to make the pocket for the hooks. I didn't measure, just eyeballed it. Keep in mind that you need enough for the pocket, and also enough to make the little fold over flap at the top. My advice is to grab your hooks to help you figure out how big to make the pocket. Keep in mind the aforementioned little flap at the top is optional, but I think it is a nice safety feature!

Anyhoo, once you have determined size, fold your pocket up and iron the fold well.



If you want to, you can make a tiny pocket to attach to the big pocket you are making - I made one to hold the big needles used to weave in ends and sew crocheted things together and such (the name escapes me at the moment). You'll start with a small piece of fabric, like the one above.




Fold it in half, right sides together (I used flannel, so it didn't matter much), and sew around the open edges, leaving a small opening for turning.

You will then turn it right side out, and position it on your pocket flap and sew it down.




Here is a picture after I had attached it. As you can see, I sewed around the sides and bottom of the mini pocket, and then I sewed a few lines, creating pockets within the pocket.

This is totally optional - I really just threw mine on in a rush, so it is a bit of a mess, but it works! Just remember, if you do it, sew the tiny pocket onto the flap for the big pocket BEFORE you sew down the sides of the big pocket. If you wait until your big pocket has been created to put on the little one, you will be sewing the little pocket and BOTH sides of your case roll together, essentially making that part of the case roll useless for storing larger items. I hope that makes sense...


 

Now that your tiny pocket is on, you will sew up your big pocket. I sewed up the sides first, then I went across the pocket and used the little guides on my sewing machine plate (no idea what those are called!) to create different sized pockets. I know the guides delineate different measurements, but not sure exactly what those measurements are, either. I found that using the second line gave me pockets that were big enough for most hooks up through J or so., but it is best to experiment and see what works for you and your hook collection :) I made some larger hook pockets, in case I get some larger hooks in the future. I also made a wide pocket that can store a small pair of scissors.

Now is also the time to make your little flap at the top. I folded a portion of the top down, ironed the fold, and stitched just below the fold to hold it in place. The above picture shows the case holding one hook - you can see how the flap comes over the top of it. If my roll were to get turned upside down and thrown around, this should keep the hooks in it from sliding out and getting lost.




There was a problem, as you can see above. I do own one freakin' big hook, and it is too long for this roll. If I had forgone the top flap, it would have fit, but the roll would have been really big, and I wouldn;t have had the piece of mind that flap provides I decided to just leave this one out. I'd say  99.9% of the crochet I do is with K or smaller, anyway.  Plus, how could I possibly lose this guy? He's HUGE!




Here's a picture of the finished product with my hooks and doodads in it. I forgot I actually made two big pockets. You see my scissors on the right, and on the left, you see the needle pocket. In the big pocket behind that I have stored my packet of stitch markers. You see my hooks all tucked away, too. I used to have a lot more, but since I didn't have a nice case like this to put them in, a bunch of them got lost :(




Here is how it looks on the outside.




And here it is all rolled up and tied.

Feel free to comment if you have any questions!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

LOVE IT!!

Lily