Rolling Right Along - Colored Pencil - Crayon Roll

My youngest girls received crayon rolls from a friend last year for Christmas. I had never seen one before, but I loved it. I have seen a few now out in the crafting world and I decided to make some for the kids for Christmas gifts. After a few tries doing different things I have made my own creation pulling ideas from here and there.

This tutorial is going to be for a roll that holds Colored Pencils or skinny markers. This will also work for crochet hooks or makeup brushes. It's really too tall for crayons. This one is for an older child/pre-teen. A crayon roll would be shorter. I will post a tutorial for that later.

I really appreciate a lot of pictures when I'm trying to follow a tutorial, so I've tried to make this as detailed as possible.

ROLLING RIGHT ALONG PENCIL ROLL

SUPPLIES:
1 cut fabric 16x20
1 cut fabric 8x20
1 cut grosgrain ribbon 30 to 32 inches long
matching thread

~ Cut two pieces of fabric one 18 x 20" for the main roll and the other 8 x 20" for the pencil slots ~

~ Fold each piece in half lengthwise and press ~

~ Take the smaller piece and mark the places to divide the pencil slots. The raw open edge should be down. I marked 3/8" from the end to allow for  the seam ~

~ Using a fabric pencil or pins mark the lines 1" apart.  I made 16 1" slots and left a large 3" slot at the end for a larger item. And again mark a 3/8" for the seam ~ 

~ Open up the larger piece of fabric and pin the smaller piece to the bottom ~  

~ Sew along all of your marked lines to form the slots for your pencils. Don't sew the seam marks on the edges ~ 

~ Fold the large piece in half - right sides together and pin ~

~ Oh, I almost forgot! Be sure to get your sewing cat helper in place ~

 ~ Then sew along the 3 open edges 1/4" seams leaving 2" to 3" at the top side edge to allow for turning ~

~ Trim your corners ~



~ Turn right side out and press. You can carefully use your seam ripper to pull the corners so they are nice and flat and pointy ~

~ Fold in the edges of the opening so it's even with the sewn edge ~

~ Grab your cut ribbon and fold in half, press a crease. Place it in the opening right above the pencil slots about an inch in and pin in place ~

~ Fold the ribbon over and pin so that it doesn't get caught in the top stitching. Top stitch along all 4 sides staying close to the edge. Stop when you get to the ribbon. Un-pin the ribbon and fold it back over ~ 

~ Sew the opening closed and securing the ribbon inside the roll ~

Yes, you aren't going crazy, it was a white ribbon before. My daughter came up to me as I was sewing the seam closed and said "That would have been so pretty with a red ribbon" Since this is her birthday present (she doesn't know that). I took the white ribbon out and put in a red one. She was right, it's way cuter with red ribbon.  

~ Sew along the ribbon inside the roll to enforce it. See below ~

~ And...Voila... You're finished! ~

~ This is going to hold colored twist pencils or sketching pencils but I used Crayola markers for this picture ~

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I wanted to do more than just the pencil roll. I searched for an easy tote bag to make, so that she can take along a sketch book and her pencil roll easily. I came across a super easy tutorial for a nice reversible tote bag. The tutorial is here on Skip to My Lou. I didn't follow it exactly. I used it as a base and made my own creation. My straps are much thicker, and they're patchwork using all the fabrics in the tote and the pencil roll. Also, I added a pocket and each of the sides inside and out are a different color fabric. It really turned out nice and goes so well with the pencil roll.

I am also making a roll an tote for my other daughter who shares the same birthday. They are twins. I will post pictures of that one once I finish it. They don't know these are for them, so I'm having them help design them to their liking. Sneaky Mama, I know.

Please leave a comment and let me know if the tutorial was easy to follow or if I need some improvements. Also, if you make one, I'd love to see it so be sure to link it to me. I would love to be linked to your craft blog also so feel free to share my pencil roll.

~ Have a blessed day ~

Thanksgiving Decorations: Stuffed fabric pumpkins

Thanksgiving Decorations

Oh these are just so cute. We have this tiny fabric pumpkin that comes out every year and I think it's adorable, and every year I want to make some, but never do. I found a few different "How To" sites and took some ideas from a few and made my own. I'm not done yet but I'm going to show a few. I found this pumpkin from a sweater idea on Small Fry & Co.

While I was doing my thrift store run the other day I found an off white winter sweater and an ugly orange tank top. I also found a couple placemats that I'm also planning on using. While I was looking at the different types of fabric pumpkins I came a cross several sites where they made pumpkins out of any old fabric. I want to make a couple of these too. I know I'm getting a little crazy now and my husband will have to hose me down soon. Haha.

This off white fabric pumpkin follows very similar to Small Fry's. I changed a few things that I thought made it easier for me.

Stuff from thrift store to make pumpkins $3.00

 I started out with this sweater and cut the top of the sweater off.

  

 

 

The instructions I followed called for a full 6 strands of embroidery floss and a large needle. I am so glad I had those doll making needles from when my mom and I made the Waldorf Dolls last year.

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Turn the bottom half of your sweater inside out and sew a running stitch along the bottom of the sweater and gather it all up.

After it's all gathered begin to sew back and forth across to close the opening.

 Next you turn the pumpkin right side out and stuff. I used Polyfil.

To close the top you do the same thing you did to the bottom. Sew a running stitch along the top and gather up. Then sew the opening closed.

The instructions I followed said to grab a very LONG piece of floss and start from the bottom. This is another place where those large needles come in handy. Push the needle through the bottom seam and squish the pumpkin to bring it through the top. Take a stitch and push it back through the bottom. If you do this a few times in different spots it will make an indent in the top of the pumpkin to help hide the top stitch.

I wasn't happy with the way mine looked after I finished this, so I decided to do another running stitch along the top right above the indented seam. This actually created a small hole for the stem to go in and it hid the seam beautifully.

The running stitch along the top. 

My sweet husband cut some bush branches off our bush outside. Find yourself some thick tree or bush branches about 4-ish inches tall. I  used hot glue and filled the hole and put a little on the bottom of the branch and stuck that stem in there. I squished the pumpkin around the branch until it was dry.

Here is the hole for the branch after the running stitch is done.

I wasn't planning on doing leaves but my kids thought it was cute. I had no green felt and had to run to the store during the project. I ended up finding a 1/3 yard green felt remnant in the clearance bin for $0.79. Yay! I found a picture of a pumpkin leaf online and traced it onto a white paper directly from my computer screen. I used this as my leaf template.

I cut out two leaves for the large pumpkin.

Then glue the two leaves next to the stem and add straw ties. I found a grass Hawaiian skirt costume at the thrift store and bought that to use for the straw ties.

HERE IT IS! 

Next is the ugly orange tank top pumpkins. This was a very wide short worn out tank top. Following the same steps as the sweater.

The difference here is I cut the bottom portion of the shirt into two rectangles. I wanted to have a variety of sizes for my pumpkins. The skinnier the rectangle, the taller the pumpkin will be.

And since I had cut this shirt I had to sew a seam down the open side of each one. I used my sewing machine and did a zig zag stitch.

Now just follow the same instructions. If you are using a piece of fabric without pre-sewn seams, you will have to sew two seams down the long sides of your rectangle, just as I had to with this shirt.

Thanks for looking. Happy Thanksgiving!