Sew Scrumptious

We love pencil rolls in our house. They come everywhere with us. In the car, on holiday, to restaurants, on planes, to the doctors. Guaranteed to keep the children entertained (for a little while at least!). They are also perfect for giving as presents along with a pretty little notebook. You can make them to accommodate coloured pencils, crayons, felt tips or gel pens - whatever your child prefers. You just need to adjust the size a little bit. These are super special because I have also been able to use some of my lovely new Jane Means Ribbons to make them. Its lovely having a proper stash of ribbons of all different shades to use for projects like this. The ribbon ties make them look so pretty.

You will need
Two 10.5 inch x 6.5 inch pieces of fabric
One 10.5 inch x 4 inch piece of fabric
(See photos above for different fabric combinations)
25 inches Ribbon
10.5 inches Bias Binding
A set of felt tip pens/pencils/crayons (I used felt tips pens from Asda as they were only 33p!)

Pattern

The pattern template really depends on what size pens or pencils you are using as they all seem to be different lengths in my experience. The coloured pencil rolls I have made before are much too tall for felt tips and gel pens for example so I needed to make a new template.

To make a pattern template, I just found some thin cardboard. To measure the width, I counted how many pens I had and allowed 1 inch for each pen. My set has 10 pens so it was 10 inches. I added 1/4 inch on each side for the seam allowance so the total width for my template was 10.5 inches. To measure the height, I placed one of the pens on the card and gave it a little bit of space at the top and bottom and then also added on another 1/4 inch seam allowance for the top and bottom. In my case this worked out to be 6.5 inches so I cut out a rectangle shape measuring 10.5 x 6.5 inches.

I find it quite helpful to mark the seam allowance and inch spacings on the template in pen. You will see why later! You then need to make a template for the pocket that holds the pens. Its the same width as above but you just need to decide how deep you want it by deciding how much of the pens you want to show. I choose a height of 4 inches including a 1/4 inch seam allowance (you don't need a seam allowance for the top of the pocket as we are using bias binding). I know this all sounds very complicated but it really isn't! Once you have a template you can use it again and again if you use the same pens. See below for mine.

Cut out two large rectangle pieces of fabric and one pocket sized piece of fabric. You can use lots of different fabric combinations. You choose!

Cut a 10.5 inch piece of bias binding and 25 inches of ribbon

Sew the bias binding along the top of the pocket piece of fabric.

Pin the pocket to the right side of one of the rectangles of fabric.

This is where the one inch marks on your template come in handy! Use it as a guide to pin along the bottom of the two bits of fabric. Place a pin every inch. This is to guide where you will be sewing up and down to make the individual pockets. Its worth putting some pins along the top of the pocket too to keep it in place. Its helpful to have the seam allowance marked on your template. You don't need to pin or sew the seam allowance at this point.

Starting at the left hand side, sew along very close to the bottom of the pocket. At your first pin, turn and sew up to the top of the pocket, turn and sew back down over the same line. This helps reinforce the pocket. When you get to the bottom, turn and continue along the bottom until the next pin and do the same all the way along. Remember you DON'T need to sew the two edges as these will be sewn at a later stage.

See now you have individual little pockets. Cute!

Fold your ribbon in half and place facing inwards on top of the bias binding on the right hand side. Leave a small amount hanging over the edge.

Place the remaining piece of fabric face down over the pocket and pin all around the edge of the rectangles remembering to secure the ribbon (tuck the remaining ribbon away from the edges so it doesn't get caught up). Remember to leave a gap large enough to turn it through later. Make sure this is in the top half of the rectangle ABOVE the pocket. Sew all around the edge using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Clip the top corners.

Turn inside out, make sure the corners are neat and carefully press. Make sure that the opening is neatly folded under and pressed. We can close this when we top stitch around the edge. Top stitch all the way around as close to the edge as you can go to finish. Be careful as you don't want to make the 2 end pockets too small for the pens!

Add felt tips and admire your handiwork!

I hope this makes sense! Please let me know if you make any pen rolls from this tutorial and I will feature them on my blog. Good luck (you may need it!).

I have spent the last week making Superhero capes for Sam's 4th Birthday party (20 of them!) so I thought I might as well do a tutorial at the same time. This tutorial is for a reversible Superhero cape that would fit a child from approx age 3 to around age 8 or 9. You could easily make it smaller or bigger by just changing the pattern slightly. Its actually pretty quick and easy to make but looks complicated which makes it perfect for making as a gift! Everyone will admire your sewing and think you are fantastic! You can easily make girls versions too and turn them into Princess capes. For those of you who hate sewing there is also a 'no sew' version at the end!

The cape that I am showing in this tutorial is a reversible Batman cape but you can use any combination of colours/fabrics depending on what your little Superhero likes/wants. I'll show you some other ideas later.....

You will need:

A sewing machine and thread
2 metres of fabrics (I used a black sheeting fabric which was £2 per metre and a red stars fabric at £3.49 metre. You could use any sort of cheap sheeting fabric or polycotton.
Sew on Velcro or you could use snaps or a button. (I prefer not to use anything that ties around the neck).
Felt (colours depend on which superhero you want to be!)

An old sheet (to make the pattern)

First you need to make a pattern. I found the best way of doing this was to use an old sheet. I folded it in half and then drew a very rough cape shape with a felt tip. I am rubbish at drawing so you really don't need any skill to do this! I used a small plate to get the circle for the neck. I found this the best way as you can try it on before you cut your fabric to see if the width and length are right for your child. Don't forget it will end up slightly narrower and shorter once it is sewn.

Then cut out two cape shapes. One from each of your fabrics.

Like this!

Next you need to decide which Superhero you want to be. I was making this for Sam's friend who I knew wanted to be Batman. I decided not to do a logo on the other side as I really liked the star fabric. There are hundreds of websites that have downloads for Superhero logos. I used this blog for the Batman logo and printed it out onto paper.

You can then use them as a template to cut out the felt shapes.

Stitch around the Batman logo using black thread.

Find the middle of your cape and decide where you want your logo and then pin in place.

Machine sew around the edge. (You could use bondaweb to hold in place if you wanted but I didn't bother as its quite expensive).

Once your logos are finished, place the capes together right sides facing and pin. Sew around the edge from the bottom of the cape up around the neck and back down to the other side. I leave the bottom edge of the cape fully open as it makes it easier to turn it inside out.

Turn the cape inside out and press. Fold up the bottom edge making sure it is straight along the bottom, press and pin.

You then need to top stitch close to the edge all the way around the cape. This will also close the bottom hem. I put black in the top of the sewing machine and red in the bobbin so that when I top stitched both sides had co-ordinating thread.

All you need to do now is sew on two small pieces of velcro for the fastening. One on each side of the cape.
Voila! You have a super dooper REVERSIBLE Superhero cape!!

You can make girls versions too. This is Izzy's Batgirl Cape. I used a very cheap shiny pink fabric on the reverse.

Izzy wanted the other side to be a Princess cape so I appliqued a heart shape of princess fabric onto pink felt and sewed it on as with the Batman logo.

I made Izzy's friend Fern a gold version. This had a personalised Superman logo. You can download the whole alphabet from this website. Great for personalising capes.

Fern's cape also had a princess heart on the back. The gold fabric was a nightmare to sew with. I don't recommend it!

This is another version I made a while ago for Sam using blue and red polycotton. Superman on one side and a Prince cape on the other hence the Crown!

So where is the 'No Sew' version I can hear you shout?

For Sam's party I wanted to make everyone a personalised superhero cape instead of giving them party bags (I know I am mental but it seemed like a good idea at the time!) It was too expensive and time consuming to make everyone a proper cape so I needed to find a fabric that I didn't need to sew. I eventually found it at Fabricland and it was only 75p a metre! Its almost like paper but much much stronger as it doesn't tear and it also doesn't fray. I simply cut out the same cape shape, attached some velcro and it was a cape ready to go! You can use stick on velcro for the fastening. The fabric was available in both red and blue.

I personalised mine by sewing on superman logos but you could use Bondaweb instead and just iron on a felt logo. Just be careful and use a coolish iron and a tea towel as you cannot iron directly onto this fabric. I found this out when I tried and it melted onto my iron! I'm really sorry that I don't know what this fabric is called. It didn't say on the roll and I am way too scared to speak to the staff in Fabricland. I had already been told off for pulling the zips the wrong way out of the elastic band holding the bundle together (yes seriously!) as well as for queuing in the wrong place. (Please don't get me started on Fabricland!!).

Anyway back to the capes. Lovely 'non sew' capes (kind of)

The Superhero party was great. My friend Elena made this amazing cake despite the fact that her house flooded the night before the party and she was up to her ankles in water. We had to change the party venue 15 hours before the party began due to the flooding. (It was originally planned as a summer party in the garden ha ha!)