Needle Minder-Good Gift for a Seamstress

Have you ever put your needle work or hand stitching down to get up and do something else, and when you return to the project, you cannot find the needle?  This happens occasionally to most people who work with a needle and thread.

One of my customers, Annie, is a quilter extraordinaire.  She has challenged me to think beyond my normal product line to create items useful to quilters and seamstresses. With her guidance for the design and length, I made her several scissors lanyards.

Annie asked me if I could make a needle minder (aka needle nanny) similar to the badge reels that I make and sell.  It took me awhile to catch on to how these work, but once I did, I really liked the idea.  The picture of the blue birds on a pendant holder above is the needle minder I did for Annie.  She was kind enough to take this photo for me showing the needle minder in use.

You can visit Annie's blog, Annie's Ruby Slipperz, for some fun reading about making quilts.

How the Needle Minder Works

The needle minder works with a magnet.  There is a metal piece on the back of the decorative round piece and a 1/2" neodymium magnet that sticks magnetically to the decorative piece. The seamstress places the magnet under the fabric with the decorative piece on top.  The needle is then placed between the decorative piece and the fabric.  It will stay there until you return to your project to resume your stitching.

Gift for Mom

With Mother's Day approaching very soon, May 11, wouldn't this be a wonderful gift for your mother or grandmother?  Many of our mothers and grandmothers sew.  I was thinking it would also be a nice gift for a grandchild to make for a grandmother.  I purchased my neodymium magnets from a seller on Etsy, Sun and Moon Crafts.  She will deliver to you very promptly.  Then you can find something to make the decorative top.

I also did a Google search for needle minder, and found a number of sites where these are sold. In addition I found this blog post from Little Bit Funky about making your own needle minder.   Crystal, the author of the blog, places the needle on top of the needle minder and does not use any metal in the decorative piece.

What do you think about needle minders?

I am thinking about making more of these and putting them in my shop for sale.  I need to move quickly to do this, so you can purchase in time for Mother's Day.

If you sew, would you use something like this? Do you like the idea of giving a needle minder to someone as a gift?  Leave a reply for me below to let me know what you think.  I always value your opinions.