You may be familiar with Jenny Ryan’s name if you read CRAFTzine.com. She wrote the book Sew Darn Cute back in 2009, but the date isn’t so important, the projects are still absolutely adorable.They are quick and easy (great for beginners!) and I really, really wanted to try out the crochet hook cozy.
No, I don’t crochet, but my daughter does. And she’s always losing needles. Despite that handy little technique of stabbing the needle into the yarn skein, they still slip out, or they get left at her cousins’ house, or they fall into the cushion gaps of the couch. She can’t keep track of them and we just keep buying more. It’s silly, but true.
So I decided she needed this cute little cozy for her crochet hooks. There’s a nice size pocket for scissors, a bunch of pockets for the needles and a cleverly designed flap keeps them tucked neatly inside.
I used some fabric scraps and a canvas that I’d purchased years before. I cut out pieces in these sizes:
Outside piece: 12″ x 11″
Fusible interfacing: 12″ x 11″
Lining cotton: 12″ x 11″
Flap cotton: 8-3/4″ x 4-1/2″
Ribbon: 3″
First I made the little flap, folding right sides together and stitching both ends. Then I realized I only needed to stitch together one end and ripped out the seam on one end. So maybe all sewing isn’t intuitive to me. -shrug-
Carefully following the instructions from then on, I completely forgot about the ribbon I intended to use across the outside of the cozy. Didn’t even think about it again until I was cleaning up the sewing area and it was under the ironing board. -shrug-
So, anyway, I sewed the flap onto the lining cotton then stitched the lining cotton to the exterior fabric, stitched all around (leaving a few-inches gap), trimmed the corners, flipped and poked corners out. Then pressed it like mad. Honestly, I was sorely tempted to do the topstitching right then and there to make that sucker lay down neatly, but I was following the instructions word for word and topstitching came later. I withstood the temptation and instead just folded up the bottom half of the fabric, 3-1/2″ from the bottom, pressed that really well and pinned it in place.
I tucked the folded ribbon into the side by the scissor pocket, basted it and then I got to topstitch! I really do love a good stitching around the edges. Just makes things look and lay so much nicer.
Then I stuck pins along the top of the big pocket at 1-inch intervals, only under the flap. It worked okay, but next time I would use a pen to mark some to make sure the line stays straight. As I went, even though I was using a quilting foot with a guide, my stitching lines started leaning. Probably not too noticeable to others, but it made me crazy after I noticed it.
After the hook pockets were made, I folded it in thirds, pressed it again and figured out where the button should go. I handstitched it down and wham, bam, the little cozy was done. And surprising, the daughter loved it!
Overall, I give the book a thumbs-up. These aren’t projects for advanced sewists if you want a challenge, but the projects are cute and simple. It’d be a great book for someone just getting their feet wet in the sewing world or for sewists like me who really like quick easy projects sometimes and want a reference book to make it even more of a brainless project. You can find it at Powell’s.
