Knitting Accessory Bags -Tutorial

I love these little bags or hussifs, to use the historical term.  Inside can be whatever you need.  I have a zippered pocket, a small pocket and ribbon to hold my scissors and another small pocket for a notebook.

The example will be a hussif I made for my friend Michelle.  She’ll be using it to carry her ostomy supplies when traveling.  I really don’t know how to make this look good so bear with me.

First step is your pattern.  I usually just use printer paper taped together:

Michelle’s hussif is 19″ x 9 1/2″.  This is a little big for tucking in your knitting bag.  I make my hussifs 16 1/2″ x 7 1/2″.  This is when you decide on your pockets and placement.  I use a 1/2″ seam allowance for everything.

You need to cut out 4 rectangles.  One is the outside fabric (the black monotone floral).  The next is hard to describe, it’s like batting but not soft like for quilting.  It’s a personal choice really, you just want to give your hussif some body.  The other floral (second from top) is for the lining.  We’re going to quilt the front and this piece is the backing.  The last piece (the black) is the inside.  You will also cut out all the pockets and flaps.  Now measure around your rectangle and then add a few inches, this is how much ‘bias’ tape you need (I don’t always cut it on a bias).  Make the tape 2 inches wide.

Two zippered pockets for Michelle and a centre pouch.  Remember when buying zippers, it’s always better to have zippers that are too long than too short.

Insert the zipper(s).  Cut off the extra zipper (don’t use your good fabric scissors).  Sew all your pockets to the inside piece (black).

Now head over to Wee Folk Art and choose an applique for the front of your hussif.  Of course if you are creative feel free to make your own applique.

Cut out all the pieces you need from felt.  Of course wool felt would be nicest, but more often than not we just use felt from Michael’s.

Embroider the pieces as you like.  I love the Babushka doll.

Put the top, the batt and the lining together.  Mark out your quilting lines.  Mine are about 1 1/4 ” because that’s what my ruler measures.  Just do it how you like.  When stitching, I always start with one of the long middle lines.  Also I sew down the line one direction and then turn and sew up the next.  I find this helps prevent puckering.  I also use as few pins as possible.

When the quilting is done, sew the applique to the front of the hussif.  When centering, don’t forget to leave space for the bias tape.

Now baste the front and the back together around the outside.   Mark the two fold lines and stitch.  This will help make the folds neat.

Now sew on the bias tape.  Start on the back (it keeps the front neat and tidy).  To make the corners easy, sew the tape on one side, all the way down.  Cut thread.

Turn your work to the next side.  Fold the tape as shown in the picture.  Again sew all the way across.  Continue until all for sides are finished.

Now fold the bias tape around to the front, folding under the seam allowance.  Stitch around.

Add a ribbon loop to the front and a button to the back and you are finished.

How’s that?  Clear as mud  🙂  Please send in any questions.

Joining the other ‘sewing goddesses’ over at Dandelion House.

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Yarn Along -16 April 2014

 

Lots to share for Yarn Along, though not all is knitting but it’s knitting related.

My stripey socks all done.

Grey ones are done now too.

Ella had a long weekend at Grandma’s so I was able to sort and organize (and dust) my knitting corner.  I always forget to take ‘before’ pictures.  But I can assure you this corner looks so much better, especially with all my sock projects tucked away in my basket.

Made myself stop working on socks and the afghan.  Grandma’s going to be wanting her sweater coat soon.

I think half the fun of having multiple knitting projects on the go at one time is that you need to have multiple knitting accessories.

So I made myself some cases for all my knitting paraphernalia.  The style is based on the 18th century hussif.  And of course there is no reason it can’t be pretty AND functional.

A spot for everything.  All I need to add is a short pencil.

I also made some needle cases.   I need to get some more knitting pins and a few more darning needles.  The red case includes scissors because it’s for my purse knitting.  I love embroidery and sewing so these were a lot of fun to create.

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Yarn Along -3 April 2013

One last sewing project to share for Yarn Along:

This is a Hussif for my knitting supplies.  It’s a little bigger than anticipated, I couldn’t get the computer to shrink the matryoshka pattern and I didn’t want to drive an hour (there and back again) to use a photocopier.

And here’s the inside.  Everything you need for knitting, there is also a pocket (for a notepad) on the back side of the scissor flap.

At first glance my shawl is coming along nicely.  But if you look closely there is something very, very wrong!!  I’ve been decreasing along on the centre section and then last night I counted my stitches to see how many more rows.  There are more stitches on one side than the other!!!  Yikes!  I have no idea what happened.  I have a feeling I’m going to have to rip back the entire centre section (and hopefully only that far).  Not happy  😦

I’m ready to start a cool new book.  It’s called Whiskey and Wickedness and it’s about Renfrew County in the early days.

I got Ella’s fingerless gloves finished and she loves them.  So much that they needed washed already.

If any one would like to join me, I’ll be participating in the 4th annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week.  It’s lots of fun and she usually comes up with some great topics.

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