Make a Historical Sewing Kit
Make a Pocket Huswif
Christine Millar of Sewstine shows us how to make a pocket housewife! A pocket WHAT? A housewife or "huswif" is an older word for “sewing kit." While you might be picturing a person who takes care of the home and children, it used to refer to a portable sewing kit. Soldiers would carry these to make simple repairs to their uniform. Made by a beloved family member, this pocket sewing kit would be a nice reminder of home. Now you can use it to store small items such as thread, thimbles, wax, a small notebook, scissors, needles, or pins!
Christine's version is based on a book cover from the early 1900s with beautiful Art Nouveau imagery. Customize your own using the A-Z capital letters provided.
Download the files and create your own. Christine provided a variety of sizes that should work with most machines.
Material List
Baby Lock Sewing Machine, Christine used the Jazz II
Embroidered Panel for the exterior
Embroidered panel for interior pocket
Some sort of batting material for the inside (I used poly)
Some lining material the same size as the exterior
1.5” x 32” strip of fabric for the binding
A little piece of wool to use as the needle holder. I use wool broadcloth bits, pinked on all four sides with pinking scissors.
4-8” of elastic
Some ribbon to use as a closure
Things to put in it
Pattern for huswiff
Sewstine has the step-by-step tutorial with images on her blog. If you make it, tag us and let us know how it went!
