Introduction: Roll-up Pencil Bag

Have you ever found yourself digging through a bag trying to find a pencil, eraser, or pen? This unique case will help you stay organized and keep track of items that seem to run away. For this project you will need some fabric (size depends on what you want the case to hold) access to a sewing machine, and some thread. Chalk or something similar will help with making more accurate stitches, but is not necessary.

Step 1: Cutting the Fabric

First, you will need to cut your fabric. In this case I used a heavy canvas material, but I would recommend something lighter. To begin with, I cut my material to be about 17.5 inches in height and 19 inches in length. This case holds 9 pens very easily and is not a tight fit, but if you want your case to hold more or less just adjust the length accordingly. (for each additional pen, add two inches)

Step 2: Protect Your Fabric From Fraying

To protect the fabric from fraying, you must sew the fabric on the edges in a similar way as shown in photo 2. You can use pins to hold the fabric in place, but that is not necessary. On every side that has been cut, repeat this step. Please ignore my horrible sewing :)

Step 3: Folding the Material

Next you will need to find out the dimensions that your case will need to be. The largest pencil I carry is around 6.2 inches in length, so the bottom portion of my case had to be about 6.5 inches. For your case, take a generous length based on the largest thing you will be putting in it, and fold the bottom section up that amount. After that, sew along the side to create a large pocket that will later be divided up into smaller pockets for your pencils.

Step 4: Make the Smaller Pockets

Use chalk to make sure you don't sew sideways, and to ensure that you are sewing in the correct spots. I used pockets that were two inches wide and 6.5 inches tall, but I only sewed about four inches high so that I could reach smaller pens and pencils. After you have every pocket drawn with chalk or something similar, sew along along those lines. This will separate everything so you can keep organized.

Step 5: Congratulations!

You have just created an original bag to keep yourself organized! You can customize it however you would like, including a special way to keep it shut (like a ribbon, Velcro, rubber bands) but it is up to you! Get creative and seperate yourself from everyone else even more!