Pencil Case for the Boys

My sewing repertoire has been expanding now that the boys are getting older. Oliver is now 12, in grade 7 and has moved up to the middle school.  And wearing a school uniform. I love uniforms. Sure makes it easy at 6:30 in the morning!

He needed a pencil case, but not a kid one. And he wanted camo! Hard to find. So, I went to one of my favourite bag designers, Erin of dog under my desk, and decided I’d base it on the The Essential Wristlet. (I’d made one last year, unblogged, sorry, will do one day cause it’s so nice!)

The dimensions for this case are shorter, deeper, and longer than the original wristlet. Long enough for pencils. The only difference is that I used the zipper technique from another of Erin’s patterns, the Gadget Guard, as you can see in the pic below. (I’ve also made a gadget guard, last year, and also unblogged…I’m so far behind!)

 

I really like the way this zipper technique keeps the pouch wide open.

And a couple more shots…

 

There were a couple little things I did differently from the pattern. One was to sew the lining to the outer shell at the bottom corners, this is a great way to keep the lining from moving around. You do this on the inside between the layers before closing the lining up at the bottom. I wish I’d taken a photo of it. Next time. Second, the last thing I did, was to topstitch all around the top of the pouch to keep the lining flat and away from the zipper.

That inner lining is bright red ripstop PUL, so it should even keep any messes from leaking out. And I added the clasp on the end (left pic), they’re so handy! All in all, a great little pencil case, and Oliver a very happy camper.

On to the next!