pencil case

Only four days until I go to Tunisia and I have so much to do before I go!  For those of you who don't read and absorb my every word (that'll be everyone then!), I'm going to Tunisia for a week on business.  I'm quite looking forward to it as our company's factory is located in a seaside resort and it's summer out there.  Oh, and I get to stay in a very posh, very cheap, 5 star hotel with 4 swimming pools!

But you didn't drop by to hear me brag about that... (there are bad points to the trip too...).  A couple of weeks ago I showed you all my Zakka Style pencil case which I made as part of the Zakka Style Sew Along and which was not fit for purpose as my pencils were too long.  It's now my crochet hook case, but that didn't get me past the fact that I actually needed a pencil case.  I like to take pens, pencils, rubbers etc to glass class and I didn't have anything to store them in. 

So, did I find a nice tutorial or a pattern in one of my many, many, many craft books?  (Yes, I have added to the stash, but they were free!  I get Amazon vouchers for doing on-line surveys so it's perfectly legit!).  Nope, I winged it.  Or did I wung it?  As a former-English teacher I really should know that.

I started by making your standard zippy-pouch, but sewing it together at the ends like in the photo above.

I'd gone all Zakka-Stylie and used linen and some scraps of Bliss.  The long blue pieces are down to the fact my measurements were a little on the small side!

As usual, my points are appalling, but I really don't care, I like it anyway.  You can see in the top photo that this method of making a mid-zip pouch leaves raw seams on the inside. I didn't want to do that so I decided to pull out all the stops and bind the edges.

It's inside-out in the picture so you can see the very in-expert binding.

And if you look form the inside, you can just see it at the very end.  Now, I measured and calculated VERY carefully when I made this pouch to make sure that my pencils would fit.

Damn you freakishly large English pencils!!  How did it happen??  I was SO careful... But, not to worry, I came up with a solution:

Ta dah!

  

Zakka Style SAL week 5 - Pencil Case

I almost forgot to post!  I was so busy yesterday afternoon, ironing, oh the joy, that I forgot to post and I also forgot to upload my photos, so you're missing the final photo here! 

Once again I joined in the Zakka Style Sew Along.  You can find the linky here and this week's host Kerry is here.

This week's challenge is a little pencil case.  I liked the look of this and I really do need a pencil case for my bag as I carry a huge bucket of a bag and things just disappear into its cavernous depths.  There's no hope for a skinny little pen.  Once again, I used some grey linen and my precious scraps of Bliss and Ruby, though I think these are all Bliss.

The pattern was great, really easy to follow and it works so well.  But I have a major, major gripe (don't I always).  

See how lovely it looks when it's done up?  Well guess what, if you put pencils in it, or even some pens, you can't do it up!

It's not big enough!  And what good is a pencil case you can't put pencils in?? 

So, once again, I'm going to have to make another one!  I'm going for a different style though, so watch this space!  I'm going to use this little baby for my crochet hooks on the go as I really do think it's sweet.  And that's the photo I forgot!

Right, I'm off to calculate prices for various weights and dimensions of polymers now, I know, exciting isn't it?  I did a load of sewing this weekend so I'll be back soon, unless I forget of course.  My apologies to my non-sewing readers, I haven't been doing much else recently and I know it must be getting boring for you, but I'll be taking weeks 7 and 8 of the SAL off, so I'll try and cram some crochet or embroidery or something in then.