Needleroll Finishing Instructions

These instructions will help you finish the very popular needlerolls. There are many ways to complete them, but I think you will find these instructions very helpful. You can complete them either by hand or by machine. I prefer to finish mine completely by hand, but if you would like to complete your needlerolls by machine just do the sewing described here by machine

Needlerolls were originally meant to be small cylindrical pincushions, to be pinned to the arm of your chair with hatpins at either end. Today they aren't necessarily meant to be utilitarian, but indeed are a great deal of fun to stitch, and just as much fun to display in a basket!

Do NOT trim the sides of the fabric-you may wish to remove and trim any raggedy edges. Do a buttonhole stitch going into the raw edge about 4 threads and doing this stitch about every other thread or so. This will finish the inner edge of your seam beautifully so that no raw edges will show, no matter how close someone looks! You can do this with either a #12 perle cotton, or 2 strands of floss.

Now do the long seam on the down the long side of the needleroll. Place the wrong sides of your needleroll together with the buttonholed edges lined up together. You can do this by machine, but I stitch 1/4 inch away from the edge using a backstitch. Then turn the needleroll and stitch it again right over the backstitches you just made, however this time in doing those backstitches you will put your needle in and out of  the threads which you skipped the first time. Turn your needleroll to the right side out.

For the stuffing of the needleroll, I use quilt batting. You can buy this buy the yard at any fabric store. There are lots of different weights of quilt batting, so it is best to tightly roll it and see about how long a piece you will need to get the amount of pillowing you want for your needleroll. Cut your batting this length, and as wide as your needleroll is from the measurement between the first two ribbon rolls. Take your quilt batting and roll it tightly, then wrap it in a slightly larger piece of plastic wrap leaving a few inches tail on each end. This makes stuffing your roll alot easier!  Thread the plastic wrapped batting into your needleroll until you get it just where you want it. Then reach in and hold on to the batting, while pulling the plastic wrap out the other end.

Lace your ribbon in and out, and tie into your pretties bows!

Voila! You're done!