Making the perfect pencil case (when I don't yet know what my style is)

This is the year I learn to draw.

To help achieve this goal, I'm looking for ideas to DIY the best pencil case.  Any ideas?   What do you look for in a pencil case and how does that work with your style?


To help me practice,  I'm setting up some sketch kits in place where I tend to wait.  One for the car, one for the sofa, one for my handbag...and possibly some others.  This will give me a chance to try different pencil storage systems to see what I like and what I do not.

I've already decided I don't enjoy pencils loose in my handbag.   Those points hurt and it is difficult to get them out of my palm when they break...anyway.

I'm learning both graphite and charcoal,  so that makes the max amount of pencils and mechanical eraser and stuff 15.  The smallest number i want when sketching seems to be 5.

I prefer to use an A5 size book, so I wouldn't want the pencil case to be larger than those dimensions when closed.

That's what I know about myself so far.  

the sendak seems to be the ultimate pencil case and sketching kit.  The price reflects this.  Beautiful product.  



It might be too much for me at this stage,  but it's a good starting point for finding out what sort of case I want to make.

Closed7.75″ tall by 7″ wide by 0.5″ deep
Open10.75″ tall by 21.5″ wide
Pencil/Pen-sized Pockets16 @ 0.875″ wide by 3–5″ tall
Large Interior Pockets2 @ 2.5″ wide by 6″ tall; 2 @ 4.25″ wide (seam to seam) by 6″ tall
Large Exterior Pockets
2 @ 6.5″ wide by 7.75″ tall
Strap
23.25″ long by 1″ wide

If you truly wish to go DIY, why not repurpose some old flannel shirts or pick some up at the local Goodwill or Salvation Army? If you're at all handy with a sewing machine, it wouldn't be that difficult. Make a template out of newspaper for a trifold case. Fold over and sew the edge all the way around, fold the lower third over the middle third and sew it into place. Then sew the individual pencil compartments. Then sew a shoelace to the middle of one of the sides. Place your pencils in their respective slots, fold the top third of the case down over the pencils, roll it up, and tie it shut with the shoestring.

j

Well, r, when you say it's price is as ultimate as the product, you're NOT kidding. My thoughts, before checking out that awesome roll were pretty much the same as Jim's. After looking at it, I love the roll well enough that I'd probably modify Jim's plan to have more of the functionality of the pricey one. Adding an extra,  zippered or buttoned pocket at the end doesn't have to be shaped exactly like theirs, and could simply be a bit longer piece of fabric, to accommodate folding a bit of it over, to create that extra pocket & a flap. A button(or toggle) needn't a button hole, it could simply fasten into a loop or be wrapped with a ribbon, for closure. I also love the bigger back pocket, for the paint tin, other accessories, and maybe even a very small pad of paper.

I'll try to draw up my idea, today, after my trip to the post office!

Here is my current pencil case.  I love it!



It's made with English Paper Piecing (epp) and the fabrics are from clothes I've retired or scraps left over from sewing.  So each hexagon has a memory and a different texture.  Considering I wasn't very good at epp when I first started, I'm surprised how well this is holding up to daily use.  

I made it about 4 years ago when I needed somewhere to stash some pens for a thing.  Now the contents are more related to my watercolour journey.  For something not much longer than my hand, it fits a lot!





ruler, block separator, two fountain pens, two mechanical pencils (one fat, one skinny), some spare leads, a mechanical eraser, kneaded eraser, regular muji eraser, smudge stick, pencil sharpener, and of course, several random paperclips for some reason.  


One idea I'm toying with is to make a matching pencil roll to go with this smaller case.

The thing about pencil roles is that they don't fit random junk like paperclips (way more useful than you can imagine), and pencil sharpeners, and well, all that little stuff.  So a matching set might work.  Or it might be one more thing to lose track of.  

The problem with a pencil case is I often have to take everything out to find the thing I need.  

My colored pencil I carry in my field pouch consists of a Koh-I-Noor 2 mm mechanical pencil a pack of June Gold colored pencil lead (36 colors) and a Koh-I-Noor 5.6 mm mechanical pencil. The 5.6 refills can be used like a piece of charcoal  are more robust and with less mess  without the pencil body,  They are big enough to either use pointed or sharpened like a chisel point for a more caligriphic stroke. I do alot of on the fly thumbnails for jewelry designs and the 5.6 has available metalic colors for my sketchups. I also carry a drafting erasing sheild that takes no room but is handy for straight lines and a few minimal shapes. I also use the shield as a makeshift compass. Both have a sharpener in the end cap.  An eraser, fountain pen and a moleskine sketch book tops it off.  It looks like you have a 5.6 mechanical pencil in your pouch, I love the stubby sketch pencil. I might add a blending stick like you show rather than my finger tip. My pouch is a molle pouch that fits in my pocket. limiting number of pencils reduced my need for a large case.

The price reflects this.  Beautiful product.  

Holy crap! Uh, no. But the good news is, you've got this, Raven. Is there anything you want that this kit lacks?

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:

The price reflects this.  Beautiful product.  

Holy crap! Uh, no. But the good news is, you've got this, Raven. Is there anything you want that this kit lacks?

I don't know yet.

My first thought was - that would take about 3 afternoons to make.  They even have the measurements although I would want it to be about half an inch taller so it can fit unsharpened pencils.  I could choose the fabric to match my style and ... oh so many things I could improve.  

But I almost feel it's too much pencil case for me.  It does everything a sketching bag and pencil roll would do, but without all the advantages like handles.  So I wonder if my desire to reproduce that is based on the price tag more than the usefulness.  

r ranson wrote:

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:

The price reflects this.  Beautiful product.  

Holy crap! Uh, no. But the good news is, you've got this, Raven. Is there anything you want that this kit lacks?

I don't know yet.

My first thought was - that would take about 3 afternoons to make.  They even have the measurements although I would want it to be about half an inch taller so it can fit unsharpened pencils.  I could choose the fabric to match my style and ... oh so many things I could improve.  

But I almost feel it's too much pencil case for me.  It does everything a sketching bag and pencil roll would do, but without all the advantages like handles.  So I wonder if my desire to reproduce that is based on the price tag more than the usefulness.  

This is key!! So, a little taller, and a handle - maybe even with a detachable shoulder strap? Are there any other items on your wish list?

Or perhaps something smaller so it and the book would fit in my everyday bag?

I don't know yet.

Hoping to hear from lots of people who use something like this.  Why choose a specific style?  

I use 2 homemade pouches for my planning/journaling tools, which I made according to YouTube tutorials. This is my favorite channel for sewing projects of this sort: simple, easy to follow, usually accompany a text tutorial on her website, and not a lot of extraneous fluff. (I won't get into trying to define "fluff" but I know it when I see it. 😆)

The slide pouch is a bit big (I would think) for putting in a small to medium purse or bag. The  tri-fold pouch might be more in line with that purpose.
Point being: these two pouches might not be your answer, but there are a LOT of possibilities on this channel.

I don't have access to pictures of the ones I made at the moment; I'll try to return and post pictures in the future.

I didn't buy the recommended iron-in stabilizers. I found some stiff-ish secondhand fabric to baste in which worked as well.

(I'll try to embed videos using the Desktop view on my phone. If out doesn't work, at least the links will be here.)
Slide pencil pouch:


Trifold pencil pouch with zippered pocket:

When my daughter started getting into prosthetic makeup I made her one of those rolls using an old pair of jeans and some funky satin business and it was fabulous. Every event she went to, people wanted one! It was easy enough and I was able to adjust it to the pockets and sizes she wanted.
I figure if you're going to bring a drawing pad with you you probably will already have a bag to carry it in, so handles might not be necessary.

I dug out my old kit just for comparison: I found this old tackle box and started using it in college when I was teaching art but also taking classes and drawing/painting for fun. I did a lot of stuff with Chinese and Korean brushes that were oddly sized, and had things like inkstones as well to cart around. Nowadays I don't carry around the brush roll or the inkstones, but have a sponge, water bottles, and space for postcard-sized paper. The Altoids tin has a few oil pastels (the cyan-pink-yellow as well as probably a bit of charcoal and chalk).
I haven't used that one in ages, though. I have a kid's school case with a bunch of pockets and a zip that I really like, set it up for a nature drawing class i did a few years ago (and, erm, may never have completed).  I took it to Italy with me last year, with the watercolor set (the postcard-sized paper fits in there too). I have to say I like it a lot better than digging through the tackle box.

I like their idea for tool protectors. I like pencil rolls so I can see easily what pencils I have and what needs sharpening. But the tool protector boards would be nice to protect tips and could be useful as a straight edge for drawing lines or folding paper or I'm sure there could other uses too, even just a drawing board to clip small pieces of paper to. I don't need to spend $18 for theirs- we have random pieces of 1/8" material in the garage that we've made clipboards from in the past.

I got this pencil roll on clearance for a few dollars and it came with prismacolor pencils in colors I mostly didn't have already. But I have too many pencils to fit it. Plus I need somewhere for my graphite drawing pencils and my charcoal pencils. Those are all in little plastic trays and trays that I made by cutting off the bottom inch of cracker boxes. But trays don't travel well, obviously.

I've eyed these book style pencil pouches. They supposedly can hold between 200-300 pencils. I like the style that is just a strip of elastic sewn down at intervals because then it can still work for my pencils when they get really short.