Wednesday, March 3, 2010

(Sewing) Class Roll

I've been looking for excuses to use Vilene S320, so I invented something. It's a sewing tool roll to hold the essentials for a craft class, "car craft" or indeed "lunch-meeting craft" (as I was seen to be doing on Tuesday.... talk about multi-tasking...!).


Here's a quick how-to...

1. These are the dimensions that I used - but you could vary them according to the size tools you're likely to carry. From the centre fold I measured out 11cm and drew a vertical line. Then I measured out another 15cm. From the bottom edge I measured up 8cm and I made the overall height 18cm.

2. Make your pattern and cut a curve between the 8cm mark and the top of the side section. (You can draw it freehand, trace around the side of a plate or make a straight line instead of a curve).


3. Block fuse some Vilene S320 to both the outer and lining fabrics and cut them out with the pattern. I find a small rotary cutter ("the sports blade") does the job beautifully.

(You might also notice that my preferred pattern weight is a piece of old railway line, but feel free to use the tools of your own choice!)

4. Cut a 20 x 16 cm piece of H640 wadding and fuse it to the back of the outside piece, centred horizintally and vertically. The seam allowances should be clear of wadding.


5. Cut a 6cm square of felt and a 21cm piece of 20mm wide elastic.


6. Stitch the felt to the lining piece with a single row of machine or hand stitches. Centre the elastic about 5-7 cm from the bottom edge.

7. Turn the ends of the elastic under and stitch it securely (reversing the full width of the elastic and back-tacking securely). Stitch 3 divisions - spaced 1.5cm apart - from each end of the elastic.

8. With right sides of fabric facing, stitch the two pieces together all around the outside edge using a 6-7mm (quarter inch) seam allowance - leaving a 10cm (4") gap in the bottom edge.

9. Clip the seam allowances away from each corner. Use pinking shears to trim around the curved edges. If you don't have pinking shears, you can either clip lots of tiny triangles out of the curves (or understitch/backstitch the lining side, if you know how to do do that... it's all explained in my patterns...).
10. Press the straight seam allowances open, including those at the gap in the bottom seam.

11. Turn the whole thing through to the right side out - taking particular care to turn the corners through sharply - and press it very flat.


12. At the opening in the base seam, take particular care to turn the seam allowances straight and flush with the rest of the seam. It's a good idea to slipstitch (ladder stitch) them together.

13. Topstitch a few millimetres from the top edge - from one curved edge, across the straight centre section and over the other curve.

14. Fold one edge over (creasing at the point where the curve ends) and press it flat.
15. Topstitch the edge in place through all layers of fabric.


16. Lay a piece of ribbon across the back of the wrap and fold the other edge over. Line up the ribbon so that it's level with the top of the folded-over area in the middle.



17. Stitch the folded edge down - through all layers of fabric and the ribbon. Stitch all the layers together along the bottom edge.


Fill it up with all the bits you're likely to need if you're crafting away from home and tri-fold it. Tie it up and off you go....

If you want to try this and need some Vilene S320, don't forget that it's on sale in the shop until this Friday (6th March 2010)... it's right here.

28 comments:

Snooze said...

thank you so much for sharing this ... your work is always so beautiful. it's no wonder curlypops (cam) works for you! thanks again.

Cindy said...

I so need one of these - adding it to the list. Love!

meri said...

Wonderful tutorial, Nikki!!!
Thank you so much!

(i'm always following you by google reader but lazy to comment...lol!)
xx
meri

Margaret said...

Nicely done! I was having similar thoughts today as I did my craft during out "church period" at school when all the kids reflect. I have all my bits in an old pencil case and I was thinking how uncrafty it was of me not to have them in a Konstant Kaos creation!

Annie said...

LOVE it Nikki, I think I'll have to make one, as Jodie has just re-introduced HOBBY TUESDAY at work during our lunch time. I think this looks like a long weekend job. Cheers,

Tanya said...

Thanks Nikki. I am so jealous about workplace 'hobby Tuesday'- how good is that?

Liesl said...

Ah brilliant - I need one of these too. Much prettier than a snap lock bag!!

Tania said...

You know I am the ultimate sucker for car craft. You had me with just those two tiny words.

Anonymous said...

You are truly remarkable. Thanks for sharing kind, generous lady.

Anne said...

Awesome!! I've been carrying my tools with me in an old plastic shoebox. Your roll is SO much prettier and would keep things from rolling all over the place.

I linked to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-make-a-sewing-roll-to-transport-your-sewing-essentials/2010/03/03/

--Anne

JodieMo said...

What a great idea! I bet this would also work well for say a colored pencil holder for kids.

Catalina Alvarez said...

Thank you indeed!
Love this tutorial.
Cata

UmmaThreads~ Crafty Squirrel said...

This is awesome and looks super easy to make. Where do you buy your vilene, I really want to purchase some.

Gay McDonell said...

Very Good!

Cathy {tinniegirl} said...

It's so fabulous. I love it.

Can't believe you finally made it to the NCB and I wasn't there to enjoy your company. Bummer!

Michele said...

Absolutely adorable! I have a roll for myself, but I need to make a bunch of yours for my quilting buds. Thank you for the tute!

thezenofmaking said...

Cute! Even if you don't need a sewing roll, your design would also be easy to modify a bit (by, say, adding an inside pouch) to keep school supplies organized in a backpack, or travel documents sorted in a purse, or serving utensils clean on the way to a potluck... Thanks for sharing!

Anne Marie said...

Love it too & thank you for sharing!

LollyChops said...

I LOVE this! I just sent the link to my mom with the hope I can talk her into helping me make one of these!

THanks for sharing the pattern!

Jan said...

Clever and useful! Thanks for the tutorial. I could use one of these...it's going on the list!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic idea! thank you for sharing

Bellgirl said...

Oh yay! I missed this when you blogged about it, I must have looked away from my blogroll for too long, but I was just doing a google search for sewing accessories and voila! So glad I got here in the end ;)

Terri Ann @ ChildlikeFascination.com said...

What a wonderful tutorial and craft rollup.

The only thing that would make it better for me would be a flap to stitch to the top to keep anything that slipped from the elastics from spilling about if it gets flipped upside down! I'm in desperate need to storing my tools in a smart way since I don't have a dedicated craft or sewing area in my apartment.

Wendy said...

I made your sewing caddy as a present! Thanks so much for the tutorial. If you want to see my efforts, I blogged about it here:

http://thecraftersapprentice.blogspot.com/2011/08/back-to-craft.html

carole sheen said...

Hi Nikki. thanks for the pattern I am looking forward to seeing you at the next class in November. I will have a
great time as usual. Your classes are the best wish they were on every week. love Carole xx

Anonymous said...

So I had some really awful sewing notions- themed fabric lying about that someone's elderly aunt gave me, and it turned out to bet the perfect things for this project.I've just finished it. And I'll make one or two more for gifts. Easy, good instructions. Thanks Nicole! I really appreciate you nutting out these projects so I don't have to.
Eeloh

SIMPLESEW said...

Thank you for sharing

Unknown said...

This looks like such a fun project. My daughter wants to get into sewing so maybe this could be her first project to take to her first sewing lesson. My mother was a great seamstress and now my daughter is going to be. I guess it skips a generation. http://discoversewing.com/discoversewing/sewing-classes.htm?categoryId=2039