Rolling Along

This crayon roll is like one of the gifts we made this past Christmas for some of the kids' cousins. It is so simple. Really. Especially if you cheat and repurpose something. I got this placemat at Walmart. It's a fairly stiff one so that eliminates the need for interfacing you would need if you were using a lightweight fabric when you are making the crayon roll.

Take your placemat and a crayon to figure out how much you need to cut off. Fold the placemat over the crayon until enough of the crayon is sticking out of the top. Now you know how much to cut off. (Or I could just tell you how tall mine is before I folded it up and stitched it: about 6 1/2 inches). I cut my placemat the long way this time, rather than on the short side because I wanted it to hold more crayons. This way will hold about 16.

I'm so not good at tutorials.

Okay, after I cut it, I sewed a zig zag stitch across the cut side so it won't fray, plus it looks cute. Do this step BEFORE you start to sew the crayon pockets.
You can see it here. It's not sewn together yet, just folded up and pinned.


Next I sewed a zig zag stitch up each side, but before I did that
I folded a 26 inch length of ribbon in half and sewed it
into one side when I stitched the entire side.
(If you're using a ribbon with a pattern on one side,
fold the ribbon right sides together.
It will make sense later when you use the ribbon
to wrap around the roll.)

This picture was taken before I unstitched my ribbon and re-did it the right way. ☺


Now to make the pockets. I just tucked a crayon in there
to figure out how wide the pockets needed to be.
They ended up being 1 and 1/8 inch wide.
Depending on how long your fabric (or placemat) is
and how many crayons you want, you might need to adjust that
a little to make sure it's even.
(My placemat is about 19 inches long.)


So after the pockets are sewn, it's all done! Just put your crayons in and then roll it up, starting at the end without the ribbon and tie it with a bow.
Give it as a gift along with a drawing pad or coloring book.