Miller Fleur front
Mille Fleur interior
The is the completed Mille Fleur needlcase, which is now in service! It resides in the Two Elephants project bag, and inspires me to make needlecases for each project…
I like things to be sturdy, so this needlecase has a lot of layers. I used thick cardboard inside, then covered the cardboard with some stiff mesh I had – I think it is used in making hats. Liberal glue + time + bulldog clips…and I have a very sturdy needlecase! Because of the stiffness, I had to work each “page” (inside front and inside back) separately. I tried to put a single piece of wool across the entire interior, but the push was too great – it caused a big fold in the wool. So, each page is it’s own piece of hand-dyed wool. Under the wool on the front page is the tie ribbon, and a flat rare-earth magnet, which is why the scissors “hover” – they are actually quite secure.
As much as I like to collect them, I don’t use too many gadgets. Scissors, pins, needles and my fiber hiders and I’m good to go! I got the gold bee fiber hiders specifically for this needlecase, and thought long and hard about how to keep them secure. I finally decided on a pocket made from some beautiful wide midnight blue ribbon I had, got out the sewing machine and sewed it up right on the first try!
The other trick I used on this is lots of terrifically tacky tape. This stuff is indespensible if you are using see-through or delicate ribbon that will not take glue well. I taped down the hider pocket, the ribbon down the interior spine, and the ribbon between the pocket and little wool pages (far right). To tape that ribbon down, I made it long and taped it under the wool, to the mesh/cardboard underneath.
The gods were with me on this project, I tell ya. I was puzzling it out as I went, burning brain power, and in the end, it looked pretty good!
