Mending Kit

[elizabeth_mn]

I just finished making this mending kit for my sister's birthday next month. These days, my sewing is ten minutes here, twenty minutes there, so I spent a couple weeks making this.  Plus I kept making silly mistakes, like trying to line a pocket flap and forgetting to leave a hole to turn it, then ripping, re-doing, and realizing it was the wrong size anyway.  About 6 times.



It's kind of a prototype; I've been wanting to experiment with sewing little wallets and cases for a while now, and I have this habit of making experiments for family presents so I can work the bugs out before I make one for myself. Totally selfish, I know.



The first thing I did for this was embroider "mend" on the green dotted fabric. (It shows up much better in real life.)  Then I made the felt/button circle. After that I was a bit lost until I found the brown and green outer fabric, which I just love. My sister has a thing for folk art styles, too, so I know she'll like this.



I made the thread pockets by folding a long strip of fabric, as described in this wallet tutorial. The patch pockets are just lined and topstitched down. The upper flap has velcro. The lower flap stays shut fine on its own when the case it shut.



The needle and pin leaf is just a pinked piece of brown wool/rayon felt.

I used heavyweight iron-on interfacing on the outer fabric, which was thick but a little floppy. It really helped make the case more stable.  Closed, it's about 5" x 5" x 1.5".



The kit contains:

3 cardboard bobbins of heavy sewing thread
9 cardboard bobbins of all-purpose sewing thread
a small scissor
a seam ripper
a leather thimble
a box of Thread Heaven
a retractable tape measure
assorted hooks & eyes
snaps
a few black and white buttons (I didn't worry too much about these since it is doubtful they will be the right size for anything.)
emergency adhesive mending tape
assorted needles, pins, and safety pins

And all of that fits nicely in the two patch pockets and the thread pockets.

I like this so much that now I really want to make one for myself!