Have material, will make something!  The first project was a pencil case for my Cinderella to spread some happiness at work.  My next project is a present for a friend who knits – a useful place for all her knitting needles.

You need to cut out:

a 45cm x 36cm piece (the width of the tea towel x 3cm higher than your longest knitting needle) from your patterned fabric, your inner fabric and your interfacing,

a 45cm x 9.5cm piece from your patterned fabric and your inner fabric,

a 45cm x 18cm piece of interfacing,

2 x edge strips from the tea towel – I used the patterned ones,

a 45cm piece of bias binding in a complimentary colour.

1. Pin the 45×9.5cm pieces right sides together and sew a seam along a long side.  Iron the seam open and sew the interfacing onto the back.    Sew the bias binding onto the front of the top edge of this piece as shown in the photo below:

2. Fold the bias tape over and sew it onto the back.  I did this by hand which took ages – I couldn’t think of a way to do it by machine without the stitches showing on the front:

3. Sew the large piece of interfacing onto the back of the inner fabric.  Sew the band you have made around the three outer edges onto the inner.  Mark off vertical lines to form pockets and sew through all the layers up as far as the bias binding.

4. Pin the inner and patterned fabric together with the right sides inside.  You need to pin your ties on at this point – COMPLETELY IGNORE THE PHOTO!  They actually need to be inside with the ends poking out the the side, they shouldn’t look like the ones above – I realised my mistake as I was sewing – fortunately it was just before I went over it with the foot of the sewing machine!  Leave a gap when you sew it for turning it the right way.

Turn it the correct way and sew up the seam.  It would keep its shape better if you sewed through both layers just above the line of the pockets.

Roll it up and tie a bow to secure.