Brooke Sews (Part Three) ... Out & About Art/Crayon Pouch

Before our trip to Melbourne (actually, literally the day I was supposed to be packing) I thought it would be a good idea to sew a little pouch to house crayons and a notebook for Brian. Something that I could keep in my bag to keep him occupied in cafes, etc. That day I made a simple felt envelope with a button closure (no picture of that one).

Pros: it matched my bag, it took next to no time to make, it cost next to nothing, Kevin thought it was pretty cool too, it did the job.

Cons: if up-ended the crayons would fall out.

Fast forward to July and my sewing project number 3. By this stage I was really enjoying making an entirely new creation for each child. Each it's own prototype if you will. Hunter and his parents regularly eat out so I thought this would be the perfect thing for them.

I wanted it to include a pocket to house the notebook, not something you just slip the back cover of the notebook in. This needed to fit the entire notebook as it would eliminate the 'necessity' to buy the same brand notebook once this one ran out. You can really fit any old notebook in that pocket (obviously as long as it's small enough).

Remember, this was a prototype. So it's far from perfect. Next time I would only put 4 crayons in the pouch. The size of each crayon pocket seemed fine at first but once all 8 crayons were in, it was quite bulky and the felt pulled a little out of shape.

Next mission: packaging for boys.

I had about 3 seconds to wrap this gift before running out the door to Hunter's party, but I wanted something unusual. A while back I had seen a post about sewing your own shipping envelopes using newspaper (if you saw this too let me know so I can link the genius up). Perfect. I grabbed a few sheets from the local paper, wrapped the crayon pouch in tissue paper (to protect it from newsprint) and sewed it up. A generous border is a good idea so you don't sew over your project! Next time I would try spraying the paper with hairspray to stop everyone being covered in newsprint. I don't own any hairspray so not sure how this would go.

The card:

Super quick and easy. Book print background (matches newsprint packaging), with felt letter H (matches gift).

And we're done.