I travel a fair bit. I wanted a sweet way to take my tools on the road. I'm obsessed with Discworld. What could be better than to combine all three of these things into the perfect travel sewing kit? I chose to use the Guild of Seamstresses as my inspiration, naturally. (For non-Discworld fans, a seamstress is a euphemism for prostitute.)

What you will need:

Felt sheets (I used five, standard 8.5x11sheets)
A scrap of lace
Button
Small piece of elastic
Embroidery thread
Sewing machine
Waterproof quilt marker (for signing quilts)
Travel tools

Step 1:

First, lay out the cover, pockets, and lining, right sides together. Sew around the edges, leaving a small gap to turn everything out. Turn it out and press everything flat. Turn in the small opening, press it flat and topstitch it carefully. I don't have a picture of it, but when everything was turned out, my pockets where only sewed on two sides, unsewn towards the middle. I sewed the pockets down last because felt tends to give and shift quite a bit. I wanted to be able to reposition them slightly if need be. Besides, once the topstitching on the spine is done, any rough edges are (hopefully) covered.

Step 2:

Next, measure the cover page and cut the rest of the felt sheet to match. I made my lace pocket page by hemming a scrap of lace to match the size of felt page, then attaching it by sewing it in along the three outer edges, leaving the top open.

Step 3:

At this point, assemble the book. Cover first, then arrange the pages. Make sure everything lays nicely and find the center of the book. Sew straight down the spine. Don't forget to do a small backstitch at the beginning and the end! Sew a small loop of elastic on the back cover. Sew a button on the front. Using a waterproof pen, I wrote the motto of the Guild of Seamstresses in Latin on the cover: Nil Volvpti Sine Lvcre (No Pleasure Without Payment). To give the book more structure and to make it look more finished, I did a simple blanket stitch down the spine with black embroidery thread.

Step 4:

Now fill it with tools and go! Needles, thread, pins, scissors...whatever a girl on the go wants or needs. Since this IS Guild of Seamstress approved, I decided that my kit wouldn't be complete without one of Sonky's Preventatives. (Without Sonky and his Preventatives, the housing crisis in Ankh Morpork would have been much worse.)

I'm pretty pleased with the finished product, after all it's a Discworld thing!. I plan on making another, with lace pockets, but not out of felt, as a travel bag for makeup. Now I have to decide which Discworld motto will go on the next one!