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We just love this latest project from the crafty Kelly Anne Jordan – a doubly useful sliding pencil case, that’s perfect for storing all your pens (or crafting essentials!) for easy access on your table whilst you work, and also taking them on the move! A pen pot and pencil case in one, it’d be a great make for all the children headed back to school, too. Check out the free step-by-step tutorial below, and learn how to make your own sliding pencil case.

Time It Takes To Make: 1 hour

Skill Level: Intermediate

You Will Need:

Note: Use 3/8” seam allowance throughout the projects.

Cut to:

• Zip at least 8” long
• For the main fabric, cut 2 – 7 1/4” x 10” tall
• For the lining fabric cut 2 – 7 1/4” x 10” tall
• For the slide fabric cut 1 – 13 1/2” x 8 3/4” tall
• For the zip and pulls tab binding tap cut 3 – 2” x 2 3/4”
• Really firm interfacing cut 2 – 7 1/4”x 6 1/4”
• For the slider medium interfacing cut 1 – 12 3/4” x 8”

Sew Your Own Sliding Pencil Case Tutorial:

Step 1:

Large piece of fabric and the medium weight interface: place the fabric wrong side up and position the medium weight interface in the centre of the fabric; iron into place.

Outer fabric and firm interface x 2: place the fabric wrong side up and position the firm weight interface at the bottom of the fabric; iron into place.

Step 2:

Outer fabric and firm interface x 2: topstitch over the top edge of the interface to ensure that the interface, over time, will not come away from the fabric.

Step 3:

Outer and lining fabric: cut out your outer and lining fabric with the paper pattern. When cutting out the outer fabric, remember to position the pattern on the fabric with the interfacing at the bottom.

Step 4:

Fitting zip tap: fold in and iron a small amount of the top and bottom of the binding to make a clean edge. With your binding right side down, open out the sides of the binding and position the zip right side down and half way along the binding, so that the binding encases the zip.

Fold over the rest of the binding so it is to the back of the zip, try to tuck in any edges for a clean finish.

Stitch all the way around in a square to anchor the tab into place.

Step 5:

Fitting zip: mark 3/8 of an inch from the left edge of one of the pieces of lining fabric; this is the seam allowance.

Open out the zip and fold back the tape to the zip stop so that it is slightly off; this is to stop too much bulk behind your zip when fitting. Line up the zip to the top of the fabric and pin it into place.

Next, position the outer fabric right side down on top of the zip and lining fabric, line up the top edges and re-pin the three layers.

Make a mark 1 inch in from the end of the fabric where the zip comes out, this is a mark so that you can stop stitching and reposition your zip end.

Step 6:

With a straight stitch, stitch along the top of your fabric and zip into place until you get to your 1-inch mark. Stop stitching at this point – with your needle down through your fabric – and pull the zip out of the stitch line, then continue stitching without catching the rest of the zip.

Step 7:

Other side of the zip: mark your second piece of lining fabric 3/8 of an inch in from the right hand side. As you did in the previous step, fold back the zip tape end slightly off and line up the fabric and zip, then position your outer fabric on top with all the top edges lined up and pin into place. Also as you did in the previous step, mark 1 inch in on your fabric where the zip comes out, this is your stop line so that you can reposition your zip.

Step 8:

With a straight stitch, stitch along the top of your fabric and zip into place until you get to your 1-inch mark. Stop stitching at this point – with your needle down through your fabric – and pull the zip out of the stitch line, then continue stitching without catching the rest of the zip.

Step 9:

Lay out your fabric so that the zip is facing up, pull the fabric away from the zip and finger press to give a light crease. Do the same on the reverse.

Step 10:

Bring the outer fabric of the pencil case right sides together and the lining of the pencil case fabric right sides together. Open the zip slightly, as it will need to be open for turning in a later step. Start matching up your seams from where the two fabrics have been joined, and pinning into place.

Remember to push the free end of the zip back in to the centre of the pouch as you do not want to catch this when stitching the pouch together. Pin or clip the whole way around the pouch leaving a side open for turning.

Stitch using 3/8 of an inch seam allowance along the bottom edge of the lining and the outer fabric, and also along the sides of the pouch, leaving one side for turning. Do not stitch your corners just yet – that will happen next.

Once you’ve stitched around the pouch, finger press open the seams.

Close the box corners by pulling the two edges together and lining them up, then pin into place and stitch across all 4 corners.

Step 11:

Turn the pouch through the side you left unstitched, and stitch the turning opening closed.

Step 12:

Once you have stitched the turning opening closed, you can push the lining back into the pouch. Around the top, press the fabric down away from the zip and topstitch around the zip.

The inside part of the pencil case is now complete!

Step 13:

The slider part of the sliding pencil case: Iron the two strip of binding tape in half.

Step 14:

We have already ironed the interfacing onto the slider fabric. Next, press the seam allowance edges on the long edges of the fabric back over the interfacing. This will make construction much easier in the next steps, and give a crisp finish.

Step 15:

Fold the fabric with right sides together so that the shorter edges match, pin into place and stitch along the edge using 3/8 of an inch seam allowance.

Step 16:

Now you have created a tube, we need to fold this in half and match up the ironed edges; pin or clip in place to create the neat slider for the pencil case.

Step 17:

Fold the tube in half from the seam line to find the opposite point of this tube and put a pin as a marker.

Match up the centre of your pull tab with the seam line, then pin. Then, on the opposite edge where you have just put a pin in, insert the other pull tab and centre on the pin line, then pin. Stitch along that bottom edge to anchor the pull tabs into place.

Step 18:

Slide the tube over the pouch, match up the pouch zip and the top of the tube, and also the side seams of the pouch with the tube tabs, and pin into place. Top stitch into place.

That’s it – your sliding pencil case is complete and ready to get put to good use! What will you store inside yours?

Want to check out the rest of our creative sewing projects and patterns? Discover plenty of other ideas for crafting with your fabric stash, right here.