Crayon Roll

I first heard of these on a friends blog. She was making them for gifts, and I thought it was a good idea. So I did a little digging and found some directions. The kids like them. They can sort colors and arrange the colors in all sorts of patterns. I highly recommend you keep them and all crayons away form heat sources, like the stove. We had a serious accident with an orange crayon and the kitchen counter this evening. OOPS!

I have seen the directions for Crayon Rolls in 2 places. (Skip to My Lou STML and Chocolate on the Cranium COMC) They are slightly different, but basically the same. I have only tried the STML directions, so I can't much comment on the directions from COMC.

If you want a really simple version check this one out. No turning and far less stitching!

1 - 5 X 16 1/2 inch piece of fabric for the outside
1 - 5 X 16 1/2 inch piece of fabric the the inside
1 - 6 X 16 1/2 inch piece of fabric folded lengthwise and pressed for the pocket
ric rac (if desired)
1 - 5 X 16 1/2 piece of vinyl (to keep the crayopns from marking-up the fabric, if you don't use the vinyl, I recomend ironing some interfacing to the wrong side of the lining)
20-24" piece of ribbon or cord for fastening
16 crayons



I bought the box of 16 crayons which are a bit thicker than the standard crayons. I have heard they are harder to find. I found mine at Wal-Mart. The one problem I found is they were really snug to get in and out of the roll, and they are a bit bulky for rolling. When i look at the pictures on both the blog listed above, they either admit they are the smaller crayons, or they just REALLY look like they are. The COMC directions slots are a bit smaller, so I don't even think the bigger crayons will fit. STML says to use the 16 crayon box, but the pictures look like the thin crayons. Maybe in my area the 16 box is only the thick ones. Who knows. Anyway.

Layer the vinyl on top of the right side of the inside lining, then the pocket piece on top of the vinyl. Measure in 1 1/4 in from the side and stitch from top of pocket to bottom, you will want to back stitch at the top. Then stitch every 1 inch. You should have 1 1/4 inches left on the other end. (I purposefully picked a fabric for the pockets that had 4" wide squares, that way some of the measuring was done for me!)
If using ric rac (I used piping on one that turned out pretty nice, you can see it in the top picture) pin it around the edges, overlap at bottom.
Place outside piece on top of pocket and lining, right sides together. Place the tie (folded in half) in the middle on the right side. Ends of tie go towards the center.


Sew all the way around 1/4 inch from the edge. Leave a 2-3 inch opening somewhere so you can turn it right side out. In the picture below I have the opening at the bottom.


Clip corners and turn.
Press (don’t press vinyl with bare hot iron), making sure to press opening to the inside. Pin opening shut and then top stitch all the way around very close to the edge (making sure you sew all layers of the opening shut.) With the ric rac you may have to rip and re-sew a few areas. As you can see, it isn't perfect in the picture.
All done!



SEW (hahaha) what I would recommend is this... if you are going to use the thicker crayons, I would increase the fabric size slightly and make the slots slightly wider. You can see the thicker crayons pull the fabric forward so the outside fabric doesn't lay flat. Also the crayons seem to stick up farther than the pictures on STML. She also said her crayons have a tendency to slip out with the vinyl, so she uses elastic cord and a cod stop instead of a tie (also great for those little ones that can't tie a bow or knot yet) There is NO WAY the thick crayons could slip out. So she HAS to be using the thinner crayons. I was thinking of trying to add a 1/4" to all the slots to accommodate the thicker crayons. It might need a little "head room" at the top for the crayon. Sheesh, this seems to be getting more complicated. Let me just state that it works PERFECTLY fine the way it is. These are just little thinks I want to try and tweak and fix. I do this to patterns all the time. If you try any of this, let me know if it helps/works. If you are going to use the thinner crayons, you might want to try the COMC directions because the slots are only 3/4" wide.

Please let me know how yours turn out and if you made any adjustments.