Pencil and pen case
My first pen case for school was just like this one as design 
But it was in a childish green color with cute schoolchildren reading books. Besides, I still have it and, despite being stained from badly sealed pens from the start, it has not aged since, neither in color nor material. A few years later, my mom made a pen case just like it for me with a little embroidery in front – the first letter of my name, woven with flowers and green leaves. I used it when I went to the French Alliance in Sofia to learn French.
And now, decades later, I remembered these cases and their easy to make design. Without delay, I created some for my friends in the early fall. Apart from using it as a pencil case, it may well put some order in a woman’s bag, gathering scraps of paper, small size documents or brushes and cosmetic pencils.
It’s up to you to determine the size of your case depending on the application you plan it for. Normally, a school case will make that size
What you need:
- A piece of fabric with large filament such as linen or jeans. Preferably without patterns.
- A zipper of 22 cm in your fabric’s color (note that the zipper must be 2 cm shorter than the width of your case). Wider zip-fasteners suit better this case, than thinner ones.
- Varied pieces of fabric, buttons, lace and other small artwork items.
Step 1:
Take the basic fabric and unravel about 0.5 cm from both edges. Choose the side which made more beautiful and presentable frindges for the heigth of your case.
Step 2:
Draw the scheme below on the back of the fabric with a pale French chalk. In fact, I don’t really do it, I just cut the outside dimensions (in this case it’s 24 by 25 cm), then I measure by eye where to fold the fabric and fix it in this position with the iron. I reserve the 24 cm side for the width of the kit.
Step 3:
Shred about 10 to 12 mm on both 25 cm sides of the rectangle.
Step 4:
Sew all sides of the fabric with a simple zigzag, so that it doesn’t come undone unwantedly. Be careful not to tangle or wrinkle the frindges while zigzagging. Use a discreet thread color (unless you want a fair contrast, especially with jeans).
Step 5:
Fold the fabric inwards according to the chalk lines. Iron to fix the fabric in this position. The situation should look like this:
Step 6:
You now have a visual representation of the shape and size of your pen case. You can proceed to make your creative patchwork. Reserve the front right side for this. Cut out different pieces of fabric, laces, ribbons and have fun tipping them here and there on the case. Do it until you see your design. Buttons and safety pins can complete the scene.
Step 7:
Sew the selected elements with a simple zigzag or embroidery zigzag. Choose yourself what you like best. In fact, the embroidery zigzag is simple too, it just has tightened parameters. On my machine, I set the stitch width to 2 and the stitch spacing to 0.4. In the end, it looks like this:
Step 8:
When finished, pin the zipper to the fabric. It is usually not necessary to cut both ends when you have chosen a zipper 2 cm shorter than the total width of case. Sew by hand to make sure it does not move when sewing it on the machine.
Step 9:
Unzip the case and sew the zipper on the machine.
Step 10:
Smooth by hand or iron your case to eliminate any trace of twisting. Finish your creation by sewing both frindged sides with a straight stitch (about 0.5 cm from the base of the fringe).
Step 11:
You can decorate the zipper with a 6 cm lace or ribbon. Moreover, it is easier to unzip it like this.
You are ready!!! Do I see a satisfied smile on your face?!