Crayon Rolls and Crayon Tote

To go along with the totes and coloring books for Christmas children need crayons, right? So I searched around for a simple pattern for crayon rolls and found a great one here that I really liked, where you can find all the details/measurements, etc. for this project.

I had several children on my Christmas list, so it was really fun to choose different fabrics to match each child's personality.

I used these fun pink colors above for my 2 little nieces. When you need just a little bit of fabric in several different colors, using fat quarters works really well!

I cut my fabrics, fusible interfacing, and matching ribbon according to the pattern and went to work. 

Having little faith in my abilities to sew several straight lines of the same width, I kept my measuring tap wrapped around my neck during this part of the process and measured each space to line up my needle for the next straight line.

Tada! My first try turned out AWESOME! It looked so cool and I was really pleased with how easy this pattern was to follow, how fun it was to make, and how great the finished product turned out for me, a very novice sewer.

Next step, add some fun crayons, roll up, and tie your ribbon into a pretty bow.

 

Soooo cute!!! Several of the adults at Christmas who had never seen crayon rolls before were blown away with how totally cool this project was!

Yeah, that totally made me feel awesome! I heard several stories about how both of my nieces immediately loved these gifts and in the middle of unwrapping several presents they went off with their totes, coloring books, and adorable crayon rolls and were instantly entertained as they enjoyed coloring.

So next I decided to make another one in some fun boy colors for my youngest son, which also turned out awesome.

But my only concern is that since he just turned 4 that I would end up being the person stuck constantly having to retie this bow when he's done coloring.

This project is awesome for slightly older children, or parents with far more patience for constantly retying bows than I have.

So instead I took out the crayons and replaced them with mini washable markers and gave this roll to my 8 year old daughter who loved it...and who can tie her own bows. :o)

The height dimensions were just slightly too short for the markers, but it still works. If I was going to make this from the start I would simply tweak those measurements enough to fit the height of the markers.

Next up, I chose some great earthy toned fabrics for my 12 year old daughter.

Because she's a little older for typical crayons, but still enjoys all artsy things, I decided to fill her roll with color pencils.

I simply increased the width of the slots for each crayon to fit 2 colored pencils and in total decreased the number of slots needed.

 

Then for my oldest son who's 14 and enjoys drawing action figures on notepads with pencils, I chose these fabrics.

And went to Michael's and bought him a really nice set of charcoals and a couple of white sketchpads.

It turned out great! This one simple pattern made a perfect gift for children,...boys or girls, from my 2 yr. old nieces all the way up to  my 14 yr. old son.

Now, back to what I did differently for my youngest son, because I'm all for making these cute ribbon tied rolls as gifts, but I'm way too lazy to constantly tie them myself...I think it's also because I'm lousy at tying simple bows and if they don't look just perfect it totally bothers me.

So, how could I make some kind of crayon holder that's easy to make, but doesn't require my constant attention to close?

I started with some scraps I had lying around. I picked up the cute Bob the Builder flannel on a clearance rack, the navy blue strips are still some leftover fabric from IK's Halloween costume, and the red strips were leftover scraps from LA's Halloween tote.

[Ignore the fact that there are 4 red strips in the picture above, I was having a dumb moment because you only need 2 of them, and I was too lazy to retake the picture.]

Materials:

---2 fabrics for the main body, 8.5" x 12" - I used Bob the Builder flannel for both sides, but you could use 2 different colors.

---1 piece heavy weight lining cut slightly smaller than 8.5" x 12" - I used heavy weight Peltex Pellon.

---2 strips for the crayon pockets, 8.5" x 5" - mine are navy blue cotton

---2 strips for the handles, 2.5" x 12" - mine are red cotton

---velcro

---coordinating thread, and all the other usual supplies (sewing machine, scissors, etc.)

Begin by ironing  your handle straps in half, then unfold them and iron each side in half again toward the center. Mine ended up just slightly larger than 1 inch wide.

Sew the edges of your straps and set aside.

About 1 inch from each short side cut a strip of velcro and pin. Sew around the edges of the velcro to hold in place.

Fold over the edges about 1 inch and iron flat.

Tuck one end of your strap underneath the folded edge just to the side of the velcro.

Then bending your strap in half, fold it over the Bob the Builder fabric as shown above. Pin in place and repeat on the other side of the handle, centering the strap as you go.

Sew a box stitch to hold the strap.

This provides some extra strength for the straps on this major stress point.

Next, fold the navy blue strip in half, iron flat, and sew around 2 edges leaving 1 edge open to turn the pocket inside out. Iron flat again and pin in place just below the velcro closures.

Repeat the process for the second strap and pocket on the other side.

Next follow the same straight line stitching instructions from the crayon rolls and sew separators for the individual crayons.

NOTE: This was my first try, so I ended up with a total of 9 crayon spaces on each side. I wanted enough space for 16 crayons total, so next time I'd adjust these measurements slightly,...this time I just added more crayons.

Repeat on the other side.

Now take this whole piece and pin it together with the other Bob the Builder piece right sides facing and the heavy weight lining.

Sew around the edges leaving a hole to turn this project right side in. Because there are 2 separate handles I sewed from one long side around to the first handle, left an opening, sewed the second long side around to the other handle, and left a second opening.

Once I turned the whole thing right side in, I sewed all the way around to close the holes, similar to the crayon roll instructions.

Iron flat, fill with crayons, close, and give to child with a coloring book.

The velcro closure and handles design works really well for my little guy! This is a perfect take along gift to help children keep quiet when needed.

Our church has a family Sunday once per month where all the children attend the service with their parents, and this crayon tote made a perfect activity to keep KW quietly entertained during that time.

Even with the heavy weight lining, the tote is still very soft and flexible, so next time I think I might try to use a more firm chipboard lining to make this more like a firm book.

Thanks Cocoa for such a wonderful pattern & tutorial! Go check out her awesome blog for more ideas here.