For Christmas my little man got his very own table and chairs from his Nanny and Grandad. It features pirates and he loves it. When he came down on Christmas morning the first thing he did was pull up a chair. When I got this delivery of pirate fabric I knew I needed something making for him. It took me ages to work out what, he has loads of cushions, a tent, bean bag. I put out an inspiration plea on Facebook and the idea of a pencil case came up. Perfect!
I made two attempts at this. The first attempt I was guilty of over thinking and it was rubbish. I learnt from my mistakes and my second attempt was super easy. I made it, including working out the sizes, in an hour so it I am sure you can do it within an hour.
YOU WILL NEED
Fat quarter of main fabric
Fat quarter of contrasting fabric
80cm ribbon
Heavy interfacing
Thread
Iron
Sewing machine
Scissors
Fabric marker
Thread
METHOD
1. Start by cutting out your fabric. For my main fabric I used the pirate ships fabric. I used some dark navy blue cotton for the contrast inside.
Main Fabric - 2 pieces 24x32cm and 12x32cm
Contrast - 2 pieces 24x32cm and 12x32cm
Interfacing - 1 piece 24x32cm
2. Place your smaller 12x32cm pieces right sides together and sew along the top. I have used a 1cm seam allowance all the way through (mainly to make the maths easier!).
3. Press open and fold over so the right sides are on the outside and press.
4. Mark out the sewing lines for the pockets. I used a fabric marker that rubs off when damp but you can use chalk too. I measured 4cm from each end and then 3cm gaps in between.
5. Layer up in this order - interfacing, large contrast piece, the smaller piece you have just sewn.
6. I used a contrasting red thread to sew the pencil pockets. Start from the edge of the fabric and stop at the end of the main fabric and back stitch to secure it. Repeat across, 9 in total for 10 pockets.
7. Fold your ribbon in half, pin it to the short edge of the piece you have just sewn, place the last bit of main fabric on top, right sides together, pin in place and sew around all 4 sides, leaving a small gap to turn it out and back stitching over the ribbon so it is extra secure.
8. Clip your corners and turn to the right way. You will need something pointy like a knitting needle to push out the corners, press.
9. Top stitch close to the edge and you are done!
Let me know if you give it a go. I would love to add your picture to my gallery. Thank you for reading!
ALTERNATIVES
My brother is a fantastic artist and often draws when he is out and about. When my new Zoometric fabric range came in, I knew I had to make him something and when I found out he carries his pens loose, this was a no brainer. We had been to see Mumford and Sons together earlier in the year so we decided that would be our Christmas gift to each other, but we would do something handmade to open. He made me the most amazing soaps.
I used the panel to spell his name on the front and some of the others from the range for the inside and to make up the front piece to size. I made one of the pockets slightly wider to fit a rubber. I got the personalised pencil made by a lovely little shop on Etsy I also made his girlfriend a matching pencil case/ make up bag. It went down a treat!
