Easy Felt Pencil Case: how to

Today I had planned to post another DIY play food tutorial but since I haven't finished drafting the pattern yet, I decided to go with this pencil case I created couple of weeks ago and then never got round to share. 

Since Christmas is fast approaching, it's a perfect idea for a homemade gift or stocking stuffer for all art lovers (works well for knitting needles or crochet hooks too if you have a knitter or a crochet lover in the family). 

It's very easy to make and adds flair to any set of purchased colouring pencils or notebooks. There are several tutorials online, but I've been making pencil covers like this for years I find it's the easiest and the fastest way to create a felt pencil case.

All you need is a rectangle of felt in your favourite color. Mine was about 45 x 8 centimetres, but you can adjust length and width depending on the size of the pencils you'll be putting inside. 

I had these Minnie Mouse pencils with matching erasers on top, so I had to make the pencil case a bit longer to accommodate them. 

Additional supplies: a bit of velcro, a button or any other embellishment (I used a Minnie shape I found at the craft store, but in the absence of that and if you don't want to use a but button, just cut any shape out of felt and use it) and matching sewing or embroidery thread. 

Start by measuring where you want the felt to fold to create the case and the flap. Use your pencils as guideline, and pin the bottom fold in place. 

Sew around the sides and the bottom. You can either sew by hand or use your sewing machine. In this case, I used a blanket stitch all around for a more homemade effect, but since felt doesn't fray, there are lots of alternatives. For a no-sew version, just go with fabric glue. 

Once you're done, fold the flap in place again and use a pin to mark the place where you need to put the velcro, and sew it in place too. 

This is how the closed pencil case will look at this point: 

Add your embellishment. I glued the Minnie Mouse head in place to hide the stitches used to sew the velcro. Here's the end result:

Because I had one extra Minnie Mouse shape, I glued it over a hair clip...

...and created a wonderful and almost inexpensive gift set for a little girl: 

A notebook, a pencil case and a matching hair clip, all tied together with a cute ribbon and ready for wrapping.

Does it get any easier?

How about you? What homemade gifts are you planning for Christmas? Have any great ideas to share? Don't forget to link them all up at the Holidays Celebration Link Party that is live right now!

Have a wonderful week,