Upcycle an Old Sling Into a Stylish Pen Roll!

Got an old sling from that time you got a bit too confident on your mountain bike? Turn it into a stylish pen roll for all your pen-carrying needs.

Materials: sling, scissors, sewing machine

This is my first instructable so feel free to leave suggestions (and vote for me in the first time author contest!)

Step 1: Dismantle

Cut off all the hardware on the sling, trying to preserve as much material as possible. Take apart the sleeve so that you have one large patch of fabric. I cut off the holes left from cutting off the hardware and cut the fabric into a rectangle.

Step 2: Planning

Now you'll want to plan out how large you want to make your roll, how its going to close, and how many pen slots you want to put in. Fold the fabric up to make a flap that will later form the slots for the pens. Make sure the flap is high enough to allow any pens you have to be able to grip onto it, but not so high it'll cover anything or keep things from going all the way down. an upper flap is optional and might help keep things from coming out. I reccomend that you make the pen slots 2cm wide and add a few 4cm wide rolls for markers, oddly shaped pens, etc. I should note i had some problems fitting in pens with grips into the 2cm slots even if they were slim, so keep this in mind. To finish up, decide where you want the hardware to go and how you want it to close.

Step 3: Pin and Sew

Pin everything down to the fabric and make sure the hardware closes when the roll is closed, and that everything works properly and is where you want it, then you can start sewing! I sewed the hardware on first, then sewed the sides of the bottom flap to make a pocket, then made seams that'll define the sides of the pen slots. I also sewed a seam across the top of the top flap to help keep it down, although that's not really necessary. Don't forget to hem the edges of your fabric before you start!

Step 4: You're Done!

Congratulations! you've successfully tranformed something that would likely eventually end up in a landfill into a beautiful object of beauty (or an object of objectionable beauty at least) so pat yourself on the back, and live on