Make a Pencil Case

If you're in need of a new pencil case, and you're in the mood for a craft project, try making your own! Making your own pencil case can be fun way to end up with a unique, personalized pencil case that you'll be happy to carry around. In a few easy steps you can make a cool, customized pencil case to meet your needs.

Steps

Pencil Box

1. Find a box. Raid the recycling bin for sturdy plastic containers big enough for pencils, pens, and other school or office supplies. Containers from cleaning wipes are large enough to hold most supplies.
   • Be sure to wash and rinse the container you choose thoroughly before continuing
2. Peel off any labels. Get all the old labels off the container you chose. Use a butter knife if it's difficult with just your fingers.
3. Make new labels. Cut out new labels from sheets of construction paper. You can get creative here or you can just cut out rectangles that will fit on the box. Glue the construction paper labels on your box using a glue stick.
   • If you wish, you can use the old peeled-off labels as templates for new labels. Trace the labels on the construction paper and cut out the label shapes.
4. Decorate the box. Use decorative papers, stickers, paint markers, or hand-drawn drawn designs to embellish your box. Use the glue stick or some Elmer's glue to glue decorations on.
5. Fill the box. Put all your pencils, pens, highlighters, and other school supplies in the box and you're done!

Zippered Plastic Bag Pencil Case

1. Gather all of your materials. For this project, you'll need one durable plastic sandwich bag with a slide zipper and a paper hole puncher. Choose a plastic zipper bag that will accommodate your pens, pencils, erasers, or other items you wish to store.
2. Mark the bottom of the bag.The bottom of the bag is the side opposite of the zipper end. To get the holes in the right place, lay the bag in a binder, next to the clasps. Then mark two spots for holes on the bag so that when you punch the holes, the holes will line up with the clasps in the binder
   • Mark the spots close to the edge of the bag. Around half an inch from the edge should work fine.
3. Hole punch the bottom of the bag. Use the hole puncher to make two holes in the place you marked them.
4. Reinforce the holes. This step is optional, but if you want your plastic bag pencil case to last longer, you may want to reinforce the punched holes. You can do so with reinforcement labels, which can be found at any office supply stores. These are small circular stickers that can simply be placed around a punched hole in order to prevent the binder from wearing and tearing it. Place the reinforcement labels on all sides of all the holes in the plastic bag.
5. Click your pencil case into your binder. Fill the bag with your pens and pencils and you're done!

Felt Pencil Case

1. Gather your materials. For this case, you'll need felt, embroidery thread, a needle with a large eye or a sewing machine, a button, and scissors.
2. Lay the felt out. First, cut the felt down to 2 1/2" by 18". Lay your 2 1/2"x 18" rectangle of felt so the short end runs along the top.
3. Fold the felt. Fold the bottom of the rectangle {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} up.
4. Thread your needle. Thread the large eye needle with the embroidery thread. Tie a knot a half inch from the bottom of the loose end of the thread.
5. Sew a running stitch up both sides. To sew a running stitch, do the following:
   • Begin by inserting the needle at the back of the bottom corner, nearest to the fold.
   • Pull the thread through to the front. Continue passing the thread back and forth from the front to the back.
   • Each stitch should be approximately the same length. 1/8" is a good length for this project.
   • Finish with a knot in the back. Be sure to trim all of your excess thread.
   • Repeat with the other side.
6. Use a machine optionally. If you'd like, you can use a sewing machine instead of hand sewing the sides of the felt.
7. Mark the spot for the button. Fold the flap forward to close the pencil case. Make a pencil mark half an inch from the bottom of the flap on the front of the case.
8. Attach the button. Sew a button to the front of the case just above your pencil mark. The bottom of the button should touch your pencil mark.
   • Before sewing the button on, you should make a button hole stitch in the felt to reinforce the button. Do so by running the needle through the underside of the felt and up to the outside, then back in and out, making a small "x" where the button will be placed.
   • You can sew the button on by placing it over the "x" and running the needle through the holes in the button and through the felt, one by one.
   • Further reinforce the button by pulling the needle through the felt from the underside, wrapping it around all the stitches underneath the button, and then pulling it back through the felt.
9. Make the hole for the button. With a small pair of sharp scissors, cut a buttonhole on the flap. Button your case closed. All done!
   • You can prevent the button hole from becoming frayed and becoming bigger over time by either stitching around the hole or applying a bit of glue around the edges of the hole. Craft stores carry a type of glue called Fray Check that is made for this purpose.

No-Sew Felt Pencil Roll

1. Gather your materials. You'll need scissors, 1/3 of a yard of felt, a leather cord, a utility knife, like an X-Acto knife, a straight-edged ruler, and washable fabric marker or tailor's chalk.
2. Cut your felt. Cut the felt down to 9" by 33". Arrange your felt on your workspace so it lies with the long side at the top.
3. Make dashes on the felt. Using your washable fabric pen or tailor's chalk, make 24 dashes across the long side of the fabric.
   • Begin the marks 1" from the short side and 3" from the long side in the upper left corner of the fabric.
   • Dashes should be 1/2" long with 1/2" between them.
4. Make the rest of the dashes. Make another identical row of dashes 1/2" above the first. Mirror these 1/2" marks at the bottom of the fabric.
   • As above, begin the marks 1" from the short side and 3" from the long side (bottom) of the fabric.
   • Mark another identical row of dashes 1/2" below the existing row of marks.
5. Cut slits in the felt. Use your utility knife to cut slits where you have made marks.
6. Make a hole for the strap. Cut a hole 1" from the edge of one of the short sides and approximately 4½" from the top.
7. Attach your leather cord. Do this by folding the cord in half and passing the folded end through the hole. Tie a knot in the loop to keep the cord from coming out of the hole.
8. Insert your pencils into the slots created by the slits. Because you cut 24 slits, your roll can hold up to 24 pencils.
9. Roll you pencils beginning at the cord-free end. Once rolled, use the cord to wrap and secure your pencil case.

Roll-Up Ribbon-Tied Pencil Case

1. Gather your materials. You'll need two different fabrics, about a yard of each, a needle and thread, scissors, washable fabric marker or tailor's chalk, and a ribbon.
2. Cut a large rectangle from two different fabrics. The rectangles of fabric can be whatever size you'd like your pencil case to be. Around 7" by 12" would be sufficient.
3. Sew the rectangle pieces together. Sew the edges of the pieces of fabric together with the wrong sides facing each other. Leave one long edge unsewed so you can turn it inside out. Then turn it inside out.
4. Cut another piece of fabric. Cut this one the same size as the first rectangle. So if your first two pieces of fabric were 7" by 12", you should cut out another 7" by 12" rectangle, using either of your fabrics.
5. Sew the new piece to the original rectangle. First, fold the newly cut fabric in half so that the printed side is on the outside. Then sew the folded edge to the bottom of the first rectangle of sewn together fabric.
   • It should be sewn so that the open end is still open, and lies in the middle of the case.
   • Which side of the original sewn together rectangles you sew this folded in half rectangle on depends on what looks better to you.
6. Sew lines for the pencil pouches. At 2" intervals, sew lines in the folded in half fabric, going downwards. These will make the gaps where the pencils will go in.
   • You'll want to mark the fabric with 2" intervals first with washable fabric marker or tailor's chalk first.
   • You can reinforce the stitches by doubling the stitching, running back through the line after making the first stitch line.
7. Attach the ribbon. Sew your ribbon to one end of the case, on the outside, opposite of where the pencil pouches are. Sew the ribbon in the middle of the edge of the case. Make stitches neatly along the edge of the ribbon and the pencil case.
8. Put everything inside the pencil roll. Roll it up and tie it closed with the ribbon.

Tips

• Always use caution when using sharp scissors, needles, and knives.
• All of these techniques leave room for creativity. Decorate as you see fit!

Things You'll Need

Pencil Box

• Container with a lid
• Decorative paper
• Decorative stickers
• Construction paper
• Paint markers
• Markers
• Scissors
• Glue

Zippered Plastic Bag Pencil Case

• 1 durable plastic sandwich bag with a slide zipper
• Three-hole punch
• Reinforcement labels (optional)

Felt Pencil Case

• 2½” x 18” inch rectangle of felt
• Needle
• 18” strand of embroidery thread
• Pencil
• 1 decorative button
• Small sharp pair of scissors

No-Sew Felt Pencil Roll

• Scissors
• {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} felt
• {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} leather cord
• Utility knife, like an X-Acto
• Straight-edged ruler
• Washable fabric marker or tailor's chalk
• Self-healing cutting mat
• Pencils

Roll-up pencil case

• Fabric
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Thread
• Sewing machine
• Fastener

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Sources and Citations

See also

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• Organize a Binder
• Refill a Tape Dispenser
• Make a Felt Cell Phone Case
• Make Mickey Mouse Ears
• Clean an Eraser
• Make a Rubber Band Ball
• Make Felt
• Erase Ink from a Paper
• Read a Ruler

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