I found these two great patterns on Craftsy for the Tooly and the Bionic Needle Organizer. For any given project, I use only a small subset of the many tools I have. The Tooly is perfect for keeping only those items I’m using right now nearby. And the Bionic Needle Organizer is a great way to keep a stash of sewing needles handy and to keep track of whatever needle you have in the machine. It may be past Christmas, but these make great gifts for yourself or your sewing friends any time of the year.

The Tooly pattern was a concise 4 page PDF pattern with sufficient instructions and diagrams to easily complete the project. My only point of confusion was the whether the fleece needed to be right-side-up or wrong-side-up when I sandwiched the exterior, fleece, and interior pieces together. I decided it should be wrong-side-up, but I’m still not positive and likely it makes little difference anyway.

The Bionic Needle Organizer was a whopping 70+ page PDF and included two patterns: the Bionic Needle Organizer and the Bionic Dumpling Dish. I only made the Needle Organizer. The style of the instructions was very wordy, center justified, and a little short on diagrams. I would have preferred a more concise set of instructions. Also there were some points of confusion. For example, there are two sets of cutting dimensions. I used the first set (pg 4) and later realized that second set (pg 10) was the one to use. The instructions for quilting the “Needle Parking Lot” (NPL) were vague in that it was never specifically stated that both layers of batting were placed behind the NPL followed by the Peltex. A diagram of the layers here would have been useful.

The instructions call for using your ink jet printer with some freezer paper and some light-colored cotton fabric for creating the Needle Parking Lot. Instead, I used some Sew-In Colorfast Fabric Sheets for Ink Jet Printers from June Tailor. I also made my own NPL graphic, adding a row for Stretch needles. I followed the colorfast treatment directions. Time will tell how well it holds up! But for now, the printing was very crisp on the fabric sheet.

An interesting side node: the Colorfast Fabric Sheets contain a warning: “This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.” I asked June Tailor to identify the chemical and they replied promptly saying that it was a trace amount of lead that will not wash out over time. I think I can live with this.

Either of these projects would make great gifts for your favorite sewing person. The Tooly is great for keeping your sewing tools nearby and stays closed with an elastic band. And the Bionic Needle Organizer is great for both storing your extra needles and for keeping track of what needle is currently in your machine. I think that it can also be used to separate the used needles from the new ones. Happy Sewing!