Sewing needle organizer and usage tracker

Abstract

A sewing needle organizer and usage tracker book may include a cover and multiple pages, each of the multiple pages having a pocket and made of a material (such as fabric) adapted for receipt and storage of a sewing needle. Cards may be provided for insertion into the multiple pockets (or the pockets themselves may act as cards) with which to track time periods of usage of each respective needle, which time periods may accrue cumulatively to a total useful life of the needle. A user may track the needle usage over time on a card, and discard the needle upon reaching the end of its useful life.

1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a book having a cover and made of multiple fabric pages, each of at least some of the pages including a pocket and adapted for storage of a sewing needle; and   a card for insertion into the pocket on which is recorded a type of the sewing needle and on which is tracked time of usage of that type of needle.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an elastic band attached to an intersection of two of the multiple fabric pages for receipt of a writing implement.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , where the elastic band is located in the center of the book. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , where the sewing needle comprises a machine sewing needle, and where the time of usage on a card is tracked according to time intervals that the machine sewing needle on a corresponding page is used, where each interval adds to a total cumulative time of needle usage. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , where the intervals comprise 20 minutes, and a total time for possible usage comprises a multiple of 20 minutes. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , where the intervals comprise 15 minutes, and a total time for possible usage comprises a multiple of 15 minutes. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , where the card is made of a paper product, and where the pocket is transparent such that the tracked time on the card is visible through the pocket. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , where the card is made of plastic such as to be reusable when used with removable ink. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , where the card contains multiple locations for recording cumulative time periods of usage, and where some of the multiple locations are deleted from the end thereof when extending beyond a useful life of the sewing needle of a certain type. 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus comprising:
 multiple pages of an organizer book, each of the multiple pages composed of a first material adapted for receipt and storage of a sewing needle; and   a card attached to each of the multiple pages with which to track time periods of usage of the sewing needle, where each card is composed of a second material adapted to be written upon with erasable ink.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , where the first material comprises a first fabric and where an edge of the first fabric includes a second fabric or edge finish to reduce fraying. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , where the sewing needle comprises a machine sewing needle, and where the cards comprise:
 a location to record type of sewing needle; and   multiple locations for recording cumulative time periods of usage, and where some of the multiple locations are deleted from the end thereof when extending beyond a useful life of the sewing needle of a certain type.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , where the time periods comprise multiples of 15-minute or 30-minute intervals, to track cumulative needle usage over time. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 an elastic band attached to an intersection of two of the multiple pages for receipt of a pencil or pen.   
     
     
         15 . A method comprising:
 forming a book of multiple fabric pages adapted for receipt of a sewing needle on each of at least some of the multiple fabric pages;   attaching a pocket to each of the fabric pages; and   inserting a card into respective pockets for tracking time periods of usage of respective machine sewing needles depending on type of needle.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , where the book includes a cover, further comprising:
 sewing onto the cover a protective edge.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , where the time periods comprise multiples of 20-minute or 30-minute intervals, to track cumulative needle usage over time. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , where the sewing needles comprise machine sewing needles, the method further comprising:
 removing and sewing with a first machine sewing needle from a first fabric page;   removing a first card from the first fabric page;   checking off on the first card the time periods of usage of the first machine sewing needle;   re-inserting the first machine sewing needle into the first fabric page; and   re-inserting the first card back into the pocket of the fabric page.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , where the sewing needles comprise machine sewing needles, the method further comprising:
 writing on the card the type of a first machine sewing needle being stored on a first fabric page;   determining a total useful life of the first machine sewing needle based on type of needle and type of fabric to be sewn; and   deleting time periods from an end of a cumulative total time of usage on the card until arriving at the determined total useful life.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 discarding the machine sewing needle on one of the fabric pages upon filling in the time periods of a useful life of that type of needle on the card.