Stitch by Stitch: Pocket Mat with Bias-Bound Edges

I was definitely buoyed by the success of our first project, as I moved on to the second. I hadn't even planned to sew that afternoon--it just sort of happened. And my children absolutely were a cheering section.

The project in the book is a picnic placemat with bias bound edges. After making 12 napkins so that we'd have enough for our regular dinner table crew, I didn't much think I was going to make personal picnic placemats. Just not something we need around here. We did, however need a pocketed storage pouch for our knitting needles, a way to easily sort by size and keep them tidy. So, I set about making one of those, knowing that we actually need two and Mary Beth would be right behind me to make another.

The book calls for handmade bias binding. I picked up some packaged binding at the fabric store. I'm really glad I did. I look forward to making yards and yards of binding tape one day. Just not this day.

The book also calls for two fat quarters of the same print. I opted to use coordinating prints. This fabric just makes me happy:-). 
 
 

And the new pockets make my knitting needles happy. (So perhaps now they don't begrudge the sewing machine its share of my crafing time.) Fabric from the Heather Bailey Nicey Jane collection.

Mary Beth made a pocket mat for the double pointed needles. After mine was finished, we recognized the need for a pocket for the needle sizing gauge, so hers has that included. It also would  have been cute to embroider the needle size for each pouch right onto the fabric.

Mary Beth chose Summer Garden by Lily Ashbury for Moda.

Nick REALLY wanted to sew, but had no need for a needle case or a picnic placemat. We took the encouragement from Stitch by Stitch and varied the size to make a Kindle case. He chose the fabric himself and we sandwiched leftover batting from Katie's quilt between the layers.

He was pleased as Punch!

Skills we learned:

identifying right side and wrong side

applying bias tape

binding edges

inserting ribbon

stitching in the ditch

channel stitching

combining fabrics

Next up: Reversible Bags

See our Fancy Napkins here.