Thank you for all the nice comments I received on last week’s Whiplash entry. I received a Whip Up Special Mention for The Yarn Farm. I’m extremely flattered, last week’s entries were the best yet. I also won Ann Wood’s acorn entry in a drawing she sponsored on her website. Life is good.
I’ve found that I spend more time engaged with all the Whiplash entries when I actually create and enter something myself. To keep it fun I’m jumping in on this final week too. I own 3 of the 4 fabulous books being offered for prizes so it must be the Whiplash Muse at work again.
My entry this week was inspired by my daughter Caitlin. She’s been carrying her set of 24 Prismacolor colored pencils with her to school and back for the past several weeks as she works on a native bird drawing project. As she rushes to pack up each morning she invariably pops open the metal box the pencils are sold in and they spill all over the bottom of her backpack.
My initial sketch was a simple zippered pouch. I then pondered a concept I’d seen a lot in the holiday catalogs, a roll which had individual slots for each pencil. As I continued to draw out the design I thought it would be cool to match a fabric to each pencil color. I’m really happy with the result. Pulling out fabrics for each color was a blast even though the process left my fabric shelves in quite a mess! I was also able to use some of my novelty fabrics that never seem to make it into my quilts.
Notes on construction: The strips are all 1″ finished (1 1/2″ cut). I used a traditional 1/4″ seam to join them. The total raw size of the roll before sewing was 24 1/2″ by 10″. I used a 3/8″ seam except on the sides. I forgot to make the end strips a bit larger to accommodate the 3/8″ seam! The bottom pocket height is 3 1/2″ finished. I experimented on the pocket design a bit and thought this height and width held the pencils in place the best. I used flannel as an interfacing on the overall design. Tami from Lemon Tree Tales had given me this idea in her comments on The Yarn Farm. It worked great! It’s soft, adds structure and looks ever so subtly puffy when quilted. A great technique. Thank you Tami! I’ve posted more detail pics of the construction process and the finished roll here.
Thanks for the directions. I wanted to make one of these (well two as I have twin grandkids) for Chanukah gifts. Now I can with more confidence. I googled the words “pencil holder with individual slots for pencils from fabric” and got your blog!!! I love the internet!!!!