I’ve been trying to think of ways to keep our pen and pencil box tidy and this is it! Its simple – no need to hem as I used felt and you don’t even need to use a sewing machine -jump to the bottom to see how to make it using embroidery thread.
These would be great as gifts! Make them for other items too like paintbrushes or make-up brushes. They store neatly in the car or handbag too.
Ingredients:
You will need 3 pieces of felt (skip to the case at the bottom to see 3 different colours)
Ribbon
I am making a case for 24 pens so I measured an inch for each pen then I added a further 1 inch overall (BUT in hindsight you don’t need to add a further inch – check out my hand sewn case at the bottom of the post, I didn’t bother adding a half inch to each side) I’m only mentioning it as you can see from the photo that there is a little extra and it might be confusing.
So you have your length of felt (24 or 25 inches) then to get the correct width I measured my pen and added an inch. I cut two pieces like this and then one smaller width one, three quarters the length of the pen! Hope that makes sense!
So for my felt tip case I had 2 pieces = 25 inch x 7 inch and 1 piece = 25 inch x 4 inch
I cut my felt using pinking shears but that isn’t necessary – Take the thinner piece of felt and mark on a line every inch – I used a sewing pen that disappears after a couple of hours. If you are adding an inch like I did then start by marking a line half an inch in from the edge then every inch and then you will finish with a half inch in from the end.
Now put the smaller lined felt on top of one of the bigger pieces lining up the bottom and sew up the lines, backstitching each end slightly to add stability.
Put your last piece of felt down then add the two that are sewn up on top. Take the ribbon which needs to be about the same length as the felt and sandwich it between the two layers. This will give a wrap around fastening which is easy for my little ones to close. For a bow fastening just add two shorter lengths of ribbon – see the hand sewn roll up case for an example. Now just sew around all four edges about a quarter of an inch in from the edge making sure you catch the ribbon in.
And you are done! Add the pens and roll up……….. the ribbon is just wrapped around and tucked in which is easy for little fingers.
If you don’t have a sewing machine then you can hand sew using embroidery thread – it gives it a great look and older children could make it too for a lovely present. This is a smaller version especially for crayons but you can make the pockets as large or as small as you like! I still used an inch for each crayon and I used three different colours of felt. I made it the same way as the larger case, but I used pins to mark the lines on the pink felt, then sewed up the lines on to the green felt using embroidery thread, making sure any knots are on the back. I added two ribbons (each half the length of the case) on one side sandwiching them between the cream and the green felt and sewed up all four edges with the embroidery thread.
Gem x
gembelina 