Portable Couch Sewing Kit by Janome

One of the most relaxing things to do in the evenings after a long day of work is to sit and stitch. Make your hand sewing even more relaxing by having everything you need at hand and organized. The dual feed foot and the Horizon Memory Craft 9400QCP make this portable sewing kit a breeze to sew up and stash your favorite sewing notions in.

RST-Right sides together, RSD-Right Side Down, RSU-Right Side Up, WOF-Width of fabric, FQ-fat quarter, all seam allowances are 1/4” unless otherwise specified.

Fabrics/Notions Required:

1 FQ Teal tone-on-tone patterned fabric (fabric A) sub cut into:

• (1) 12” x 18” (Main front of sewing kit)

1/2 yd of low volume accent fabric (fabric B) sub cut into:

• (2) 10.5” x 11” (Pockets)
• (1)16” x 22” (back of sewing kit)

1/4 yd coordinating dark Teal fabric (fabric C) sub cut into:

• (2) 2.5” x WOF

1 package of Soft and Stable (by Annie) sub cut into:

• (1) 16” x 22” (for the sewing kit base)

1 package of craft size batting sub cut into:

• (2) 5” x 11”

Coordinating all-purpose sewing thread for piecing

Quilting stencil, grid pattern

Chalk pounce set for marking stencil

Prepare and quilt the pieces of the sewing kit

1.Take the 16” x 22” piece of low volume Fabric B and place it wrong side up on a flat surface. Take the 16” x 22” piece of Soft and Stable and place it on top of the fabric B, lining up edges.

2. Take the 12” x 18” piece of teal Fabric A and center it on top of the Soft and Stable to finish the quilt sandwich for the main body of the sewing kit. Use spray baste to secure the layers.

3. Prepare the chalk pounce pad with chalk in it, following the manufacturer’s instructions and place the stencil over the fabric, holding it securely while swiping the pounce pad over the stencil.

4. Attach the Dual Feed Holder to the presser bar. Tighten the thumbscrew with your fingers and push the dual feed link to engage it with upper feed drive. Lower the presser foot lifter Lower the needle to the lowest position by turning the hand when and tighten the thumbscrew securely with the screwdriver. Press the Dual Feed key (stylus is pointing to it in the photo) and select stitch #1.

5. Set the Dual Feed balancing dial on the right side of the Horizon MC9400QCP to “0”

6. Quilt the prepared quilt sandwich by following the paths marked with pounce chalk.

7. When finished with quilting, trim away excess Soft and Stable and backing and square up the quilted piece to measure 10” x 16”.

8. Take one of the 10.5” x 11” pieces of Fabric B and fold it in half to measure 10.5” x 5.5”, with wrong sides together. Press with an iron to create a crease. Open the piece of fabric back up and place one piece of 5” x 11” batting lined up with the crease. Fold the fabric back down over the batting and use basting spray to secure the layers. Repeat with the remaining piece of 10.5” x 11” piece of Fabric B.

9. Repeat steps 3 and 6 on both of the pieces prepared in step 8 to mark for quilting.

Apply the binding and assemble the sewing kit

10. Prepare your binding as you would for a quilt, pressing in half lengthwise, wrong sides together to make the width 1.25”.

11. Change the presser foot to the standard foot holder and inserting standard foot A. Select the dual feed button again (stylus is pointing to it) and select stitch #1.

12. Bind one 11” edge of each pocket piece.

13. To apply the binding, place a length of binding on one 11” edge, lining up raw edges of the binding and the 11” pocket edge. Pin or clip in place. Measure the binding to be just a little longer than the cover edge (an excess of 1/2″).

14. Attach the binding with a 1/4″ seam allowance, removing pins or clips as you approach them. Then take the pocket to your pressing station and press the folded edge of the binding up and over the raw edge to the other side of the pocket, completely concealing that raw edge. Pin or clip the folded edge of the binding to the exterior side of the cover.

15. If desired, change your thread to one that contrasts with the binding to conceal the topstitching. Topstitch the folded edge of the binding down, removing pins prior to sewing over them.

16. Trim any excess binding that hangs over the edge. Repeat with the remaining pocket piece from Fabric B. Trim away excess pocket so that each one measures 5.5” x 10”.

17. Take the completed quilted main piece from steps 1-9 and place it with Fabric A right side up. Take one pocket and line up the raw edges with one of the 10” bottom edges of the Fabric A quilted piece. Repeat with the remaining pocket on the opposite edge of Fabric A. Double check that the bound edges point inwards and secure the raw edges with binding clips.

18. Mark the lines that will divide each pocket into multiple pockets. Alternately, if you want each pocket to be one large pocket, you can skip this step. I divided the pockets into one 5” and two 2.5” pockets. Measure and mark from one edge of the pocket 5”, then measure and mark 2.5” past that line. Stitch on each pocket line, backstitching at the start and stop to secure your stitches. Baste the rest of the raw edges of the pockets in place.

19. Bind the perimeter of the entire sewing kit to permanently secure the pockets and place and hide all raw edges. Turn the kit so the pockets are face down. Apply the binding, lining up raw edges of the binding with the perimeter of the sewing kit. Pin or clip in place.

20. Attach the binding with a 1/4″ seam allowance, removing pins or clips as you approach them. Then take the sewing kit to your pressing station and press the folded edge of the binding up and over the raw edge towards the pocket side of the sewing kit, completely concealing that raw edge. Pin or clip the folded edge of the binding to the exterior side of the cover.

21. Topstitch the folded edge of the binding down, removing pins prior to sewing over them.

22. Fill the pockets with your favorite notions and a project to stitch on!