Chunkster Pencil Pencil Case

The Chunkster Pencil Pencil Case is a less fiddly version of the Pencil Pencil case which was included in the last edition of One Thimble.

















For the last One Thimble e-zine I contributed a tutorial for putting together these pencil cases.

I was really happy with how they turned out and I sent one of them to my newest famous Australian illustrator because her work had such an impact on my desire to keep creating. I was overjoyed when she sent me a sweet email of thanks.

But now, it's crunch time with only a week left of school and Christmas around the corner. I usually make the school teachers totes but 2 out of 3 teachers this year, we had last year, so I thought it was time for a change. To tell you the truth, I want to piece three pencils for each pencil case and I get bored of doing the same thing over and over. Thus, the Chunkster Pencil Pencil Case was born.

In this tutorial, in the interest of short time and general can't be botheredness, I will only be showing you how to piece the chunky pencil top for the case and not the whole ins and outs of putting the pencil case together.

Before you begin, here is a diagram of the scrap sizes you'll need for the pencil. Apologies that it's hand drawn. My computer drawing skills are quite prehistoric and I find it way easier to draw it by hand.

I didn't cut all of my pieces exactly at first width wise, I just made sure they were the right length (and it only has to be within the ball park of the measurements I've given you here).

Make sure you use a 1/4 inch seam allowance or your pencil points will be a bit munted. Also, with any piecing like this, a rotary cutter is the way to go.

After you've put your scraps together, press all the seams towards the long end of the pencil (the part without the point) and then trim your strip down to 2 inches (5cm).

Next, mark your points according to the diagram below to give you the point of the pencil.

My writing looks a bit too small.

This is how I did it.

If you can see my two points on the "wooden" part of the pencil, they are 1/4" from the seam closest to them. My other point is towards the end of the blue pencil tip exactly in the middle.

Cut according to the purple line in the diagram before the last photo.

Then get a rectangular piece of solid fabric that you're using for the pencil case top. Make sure it is longer than the pencil tip and wood like it shows in the photo. When you sew it on, it needs to extend past the end of the pencil tip and the seam where the wood meets the rest of the pencil.

Like this. Press the seam towards the solid outer fabric.

Then cut off the excess of that rectangle, leaving a little bit of overhang.

Then turn and flip the piece you just cut off and line it up.

Then stitch it along the other side of the pencil.

Turn it out and press the seam towards the outer solid fabric.

Trim off the excess outer fabric so that you have a nice neat 2 inch strip and then add your top and bottom strip to complete the rest of the pencil case front.

Add some batting underneath and quilt closely to the edge of the pencil.

Good luck,

Kate