Knitting Needle Tube Tutorial

       I decorated this tube as a Christmas gift for my sister this year. She's never had anything to store her straight needles in, and I always thought these tubes would be perfect if they didn't have wine-themed paper! When I stumbled on this yarnball fabric at JoAnn's, the pieces started falling together... with glue :)

     Start with one of those cardboard winetubes that are always at the craft stores, about 15" of fabric (and less than 10" of contrast for the lid, if you like).

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(Of course, none of the tubes had blue or green on the inside!)

  Sew the fabric into a tube to fit over the cardboard tube, with the selvege (or a hemmed edge) lined up with the upper edge and about an inch hanging off the bottom.

     Glue the selvege to the tube at the top edge. Put a little glue around the bottom edge to hold things in place, but I didn't want the glue to change the texture of the fabric there.

     To allow that extra inch to fold smoothly over the bottom edge, snip to the tube all around the circle, about every 1/4". Fold the strips over the edge (the snips allow them to overlap and lay flat), smothering them with glue as you go. Make sure they don't just soak it all up! 

     Cut a circle of paper or fabric, and glue it to the bottom to cover the raw edges. If you use fabric, use enough glue to keep that piece from fraying.

     For the cap, cut a circle with a diamater about 1" larger than the top of the tube. Glue it flat to the top, smoothing out wrinkles.

  

     Allow that to dry, then snip all around the edges like at the bottom, and glue the 'fringe' flat over the edge.

    Next, cut a strip of fabric long enough to go around the outer edge of the cap, plus seam allowance, and twice as wide as the cap itself. Sew the strip into a ring, and on the wrong side, fold the raw edges in so they meet in the middle. Iron. Topsitch the edges to hold the raw edges inside. Glue the ring around the cap.

Ta-da!

     If you like, you could add ribbon, trim, or embroidery around the cap or to cover the selvege. You could also replace the string that had been used to keep the cap connected to the tube; just use an awl (or a nail)to reopen the holes instead of cutting the fabric away. I am still thinking of gluing a green "K" to the top of this one for some decoration :)