Pattern Review - Patchwork Please! Embroidery Case

I started out making this embroidery case for myself, but ended up giving it to a friend who has been recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma.  She cross-stitches a lot, so I thought she would appreciate and get a lot more joy out of this embroidery case than myself.

It's made out of Essex yarn dyed linen in Steel, and fabrics from the Airmail collection from Moda.  I used a scrap of grey wool felt for the needle pages, and some thicker (16 gauge) vinyl for the pocket.

This project was the whole reason I bought the Patchwork Please! book to begin with.  I wanted a pretty sewing case or "Hussif" with some patchwork or embroidery on it, and I didn't want it to be overly large or bulky.

For many of the projects in "Patchwork Please!", templates are provided which you are expected to photocopy and enlarge by 200%, then add your own 1/4" seam allowances.  For quite a few of the projects, this seems to be an OK, if annoying, method.  But for a patchwork front that is not paper pieced and is completely rectangles, squares, and triangles, I would have preferred complete dimensions for the necessary pieces.  I ended up wasting some fabric when I miscalculated the size of the triangles I needed.
 

 

I added a heart applique and some "airmail" themed ribbon to the back.

 

The binding was not my best work; I have some thoughts for sewing on the binding for the vinyl pocket more neatly but will have to try making the project again before I say for sure that my ideas will work well.  If you examine the photos in the book it looks like the two pieces of binding are applied separately, and the instructions for this are not very detailed, referring to "easily found internet instructions and YouTube videos".  I think the next time I make this I will use a slightly different technique for the cover binding and hand finish it; I was not happy with the machine finished result.

I would like to make this project again, this time for myself to house embroidery projects at home.  My friend was over the moon with the kit and I'm so happy that I gave it to her.

The completed item is large for what I had in mind for myself, but will fit a 7" hoop very comfortably, as well as a pattern and some notions.  I think for the hussif/sewing kit I have in mind I'll need to keep looking for a different pattern, however, the cover patchwork is really delightful and can be adapted for how many fabrics you have available.  It was a good exercise for working with triangles and the whole project can be done in an afternoon if you are ambitious.  I think I made the patchwork cover in an evening, the inside components on another evening, and finished the whole thing in a third afternoon session.  This included having to recut the patchwork portion out and trying to decide on an overall design with the fabrics and colors I had available to me.