Cross Stitched Pencil Case

Encourage the little ones to give cross stitch a go with a miniature design that can be worked up in to a feature for this handy back to school essential. Using a simple template as a guide, this project shows how easily you can create pretty pictures and motifs on fabrics with just a few different coloured threads.

Essentials

Aida, DMC Impressions liberty printed, pink, 6cm x 9.5cm
Fabric: cotton, pink spotted, 25cm square
Embroidery threads, stranded, yellow, green, jade, emerald, pink, cerise, black
Zip, 21cm
For this project you can download the cross stitch template by clicking here.

Cross stitch a motif

Cut a piece of printed Aida 8cm by 12cm and find the centre. Begin working the cross stitch design from this point using three strands of cerise embroidery cotton for the central heart. Work half stitches where necessary to ensure the curves look neat.
Work the two puppies in jade and pink stranded cotton, adding collar and heart patches with yellow and green. Outline the animals with a neat backstitch in the darker shades, adding the features with black cotton.
Frame the design with a border of alternate coloured cross stitches and then fold under the edges of the fabric two holes from this line, mitring the corners and clipping away excess fabric if necessary for a neat right angle.

Make a handy pencil case

Cut the cotton spotted fabric in half and fold under 1cm on one long edge of each piece. With right sides uppermost, pin the fabric to the zip so the fold sits neatly along the line of teeth. Backstitch the fabric into position and over sew the fabric pieces together at either end of the zip.
Lay the fabric right side uppermost with the zip in the centre. Pin the cross stitched panel centrally, with design 1cm closer to the top of the fabric. Use three strands of yellow embroidery cotton to sew the panel to the fabric with a running stitch that outlines the frame.
Fold the fabric right sides together and stitch around the case 1cm in from the raw edges. Use a neat backstitch for a secure finish and open the zip slightly before you finish the seams to ensure that the case can be turned right side out. Turn through and press to finish.