I love my jewelery, so of course I want to take it with me when travelling but still keep it nice and safe. I scoured local shops and big-box stores only to come up empty-handed, before heading over to etsy. While there were tons of great options, nothing was a perfect fit for me. So, armed with limited sewing skills and a Mom handy for advice, I set out to create my own.

Step 1: Gather Supplies

For this Jewellery Roll, I used:

1 yard of cotten blend fabric for the outside (I bought a whole yard, but only used about 1/3 to 1/2... I used the rest on an E-Reader holder which I will post later!)
1 yard of flanelette (again, only used about 1/3rd of it)
A sewing machine
Thread
Pens / Newspaper / Scissors for making templates
fabric scissors
1 yard thin elastic cord
a small button
small amount of batting (just enough to fill the ring roll)
iron-on interfacing
stick-pins
iron
ironing board

I used cotton and flannel as my fabrics because I'm pretty new to sewing and figured they would be pretty easy to work with; of course you can use whatever you like. I've seen some nice silky/satin rolls on etsy and have also seen lots of nice patterned dresses and skirts at the thrift shop that could become very pretty jewellery rolls

Step 2: Come Up With a Design

While I am presenting step-by-step instructions on how to make "my" jewellery roll, I hope folks will use it more as a guideline to create one that works for you. For my roll, I wanted lots of necklace space, a spot rings, a few pockets for some of my bigger/chunkier pieces, and a place for earrings. I wanted the finished product to be soft and roll-able so it would be easy to tuck into luggage or a carry-on.

I drafted up a template and cut it out of newspaper, then layed out all of my pieces to make sure everything had its place. Working from the bottom up, the design has 4 3" x 4" pockets, followed by a ring-roll. The area above is for necklaces. The empty rectangle flap will fold over the necklaces for protection, then the rounded flap which will hold earrings will fold in over that. With the flaps folded in, the dimensions end up about 8.5" x 19"

Step 3: Cut Out Your Fabric; Add Interfacing

To save a bit of time and make sure everything lined up well, I pinned my fabrics together outsides-facing-in and traced my newspaper template onto the cotton fabric. This line would be my stiching guide later. Then I traced around the template a second time 1/4" out from the template to give me lots of seam allowance. This is the cut line. Because I am prone to cutting the wrong line, I used different colours for my cut line and my stitch line :) Then I cut out my pattern. Remember to put relief cuts around curves and corners.

Once its cut out, get your interfacing and cut out 2 peices to fit the middle portion of the roll, with each piece having the grain going in different directions - or if you have very stiff interfacing, just use one peice. Iron the interfacing onto the inside of the patterned fabric. I also cut out some thinner strips and ironed them on along where the tops of the pockets were to be sewn on. In hindsight I'm not sure this did much but I had lots of extra interfacing so I thought it was worth a try.

Step 4: Make the Pockets for the Inside of the Roll

First I used some newspaper to make a 'model' of my pocket. I wanted a pocket with dimension, so I could fit my bigger pieces inside, not just a flat one. So I made sort of a paper box and modelled it off that.

For a finished pocket size of about 3" high by 4" wide by 3/4" deep, I started with 5" x 6" rectangles of the two fabrics sewn good-sides-in, with one of the longer edges left open.

To make the pocket "3D" pull apart the 2 fabrics and refold the corner so when laid flat, the corner is your patterned fabric on one side, your soft fabric on the other side, and the seam is running down the middle (see picture). Measure 1" from the tip of the corner and stitch a line across the corner (as indicated by the red line in the photo) then cut off the corner leaving just enough seam allowance so the sticthing doesn't come out. Do this for the 2 bottom corners on each pocket

Next, flip your pockets right-side-out and iron your pocket into shape by creasing the side and bottom edges.

I wanted an elastic along the top edge of the pocket to help hold my things inside so next step was to finish the top edge of the pocket. I had 1" of fabric to work with so I folded the corners in on both sides, then the top edge over twice so I had a nice finished seam, leaving about 1\4 inch to string my elastic through. I ironed all my folds as I went to make sewing easier. Using a darning needle I fed my elastic through the seam. If you use elastic, you kind of have to guess a bit on how long your peice of elastic should be. I wanted the pockets to hold things in, but I didn't want the elastic so tight that it was difficult to get stuff in and out. Since the finished pocket would be 4" across, I started with a 4" peice of elastic, and then played with it until I found a tension I liked.

With all my pockets completed, I sewed 2 together along one of the sides with 1/4" allowance so I had 2 pairs of 2 pockets. I then ironed the seam flat.

Next pin the bottom edge of the pocket pair into place onto the good side of the lining and fasten it from the inside of the pocket 1/4" from the edge. Then fold the pocket up, pin, and sew the sides. With the elastic in the pockets you will have to be careful to keep things straight.

Finally sew up the middle between the two pockets. If you sew careully, your seam will be hidden where the two pockets where sewn together.

Repeat for the top pockets.

Step 5: Make Necklace Holders

Next step is to make and fasten the necklace holders.

A lot of the designs I looked has had individual loops like the ones made by ZuzooPetals on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ZuzooPetals)

However, with my necklace collection ever-expanding, I didn't want to feel limited by a set number of loops. I really liked the idea by GrammiesQuiltz (http://www.etsy.com/shop/GrammiesQuiltz) which has a braided strap that can also works well for pins and earring - so that's what I chose to do for mine. I made 2 so I had a second row for bracelets.

To make each strap requires 3 lengths of binding a bit longer than the overall width of your roll, because they will shorten as you braid them. My roll is about 8-1/2" across so I used about 12" long strips - which was more than enough but I like an excessive amount of room for error.

To make the binding, I creased a 1/4" fold along the straight edge of the patterned fabric, then folded it over again and made a 3/4" fold. Next cut the strip, leaving another 1/4" on the other side. You end up with a 3/4" wide strip with 2 - 1/4" flaps on either side.

Fold those flaps in, then fold the strip in half onto itself so all the cut edges are tucked inside, and iron it flat. Sew it together as close as you can to the open edge.

Take 3 lengths of the binding and sew them together at one end. Then braid your strips together, being careful to keep the pieces flat as you go so your strip doesn't end up twisted. Sew the ends together at the bottom of the braid and clip any excess.

Sew your braids in place on the inner liner. Later you will top-stitch over the earring and necklace flaps, so the ends of these braided pieces will not be seen on the finished product.

Step 6: Make Ring Roll

Next I need a place to store rings. For this I used a 2" strip of fabric sewed into a tube with a pointed end.

After flipping the tube right-side-out, I stiched straight across it about 1" up from the pointed end, then stuffed the tube with fibrefill and sewed the other end shut. Don't worry about the unfinished ends.

I fished out a nice sparkley button from my Mom's collection and drew a line on the pointed end of the ring roll to represent the slit where the button will fit.

I have a button hole attachement on my sewing machine, but no idea how to use it, so instead I used a combination of 3 different stitches to sew around the button line, then cut the slit out of the middle.

Attach the flat end of the ring roll to the liner. Again don't worry about the unfinished edge because that will get sew into a fold later. Just make sure it is placed properly (refer to photo)

Note where the button hole falls and sew the button into place on the liner.

Step 7: Earring Holder and Ties

For the earring holder, I sewed another tube, flipped it right-side out, then ironed it flat so that the seam is in the centre at the back. Attach the strip on the curved flap, sewing it place just to the outside of the stitch line on the seam allowance.

For the ties, finish the ends on a long strip of binding (see step 5 to make binding) - I used about 24" - by folding the ends in 3-4 times and sewing it in place. Fold the strip in half then attach the folded end to the liner at the centre of the main part of the jewellery roll, just to the outside of the stitch line on the seam allowance

Step 8: Sew the Liner and the Outside Together

Pin the liner and the outer fabric together with the good sides facing in. Sew all around the outside except the bottom. Flip the peice so the good sides are out.

Lay the roll out flat. Fold the 2 flaps in so you end up with a rectangle. Iron and pin along the edge to hold the flaps in place. Fold in the bottom edge and iron and pin that in place too. Top-stitch all around the rectangle about 1/4" in from the edge. This will hide the unfinished edges on the ring roll and necklace holders, and seal the bottom edge.

Step 9: And You're Done! a Few Comments and Improvement Suggestions

Fill up your jewellery roll! Fold the ractangle flap over the necklaces to protect them, then your earring flap. Fill up the pockets then starting from the bottom roll it up and tie a bow!

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One thing I really would have likes to have added was a hanger. The roll can be hung from the ties, but the interfacing doesn't provide enough structure so the whole thing just folds in on itself. One straight piece of wire sewn into the top would probably do the trick, and it wouldn't affect it rolling up. Also, adding a few stitches across the necklace holders would help stop them from drooping when hanging.

Sewing around the pockets was really tricky, especially the top-stitching - leaving a bit more room around them would help with that.

I have to "pre-poke" earring holes with a sewing needle, so a different type of fabric might be better for the earring holder. A nice piece of lace would be both pretty and practical, as long as it has small enough holes to hold in small studs.

I used elastics because I am terrible at sewing in zippers - if you like zippers, use zippers!

*****

Everyone has a different jewellery collection, and therefore my jewellery roll might not quite work for you. If thats the case, hopefully you can at least take away enough info from this instuctible to come up with a design that works for you. Happy Sewing!