DIY Pencil Case using Cereal box

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I was going through my Pinterest feed and saw a pencil case picture from Mochi things.That caught my eye and I fell in love with those square pencil case. I had no idea to buy those pencil case as $25 for pencil case does not sound great to me ;). Are you with me ?? But I thought I can DIY a similar version to satisfy my love for the pencil case. Oh yes !! I can use them to hold my sharpies or other pens even though I am not going back to school :).

It's been a long time since I shared a no-sew version of fabric DIYs after I got a sewing machine. So, I thought I will make this pencil case a no-sew version and give a try with fabrics I had in hand and it worked.Happy dance !! So, let's see how to make it !!

Materials Required :
A cereal box
1/4  yard of patterned cotton fabric
1/4  yard of felt
Glue (E 6000 or Tacky glue)
Fabric scissors & Paper Scissors
Pencil & Ruler
Magnetic clasp or Velcro
Craft knife

Step 1: Cut one side of the cereal box measuring 7" X 11" and two pieces measuring 1.75" X 3.25" from the other side. Fold and crease the rectangle at following measurements from the top 3" - 4.25" - 7.25" - 8.5". Shape the corners of the front side of the case using scissors if desired.Cut the side panels as shown below with 0.25" on sides and bottom for folding.

Step 2: Cut the fabric pieces in such a way that it measures approximately an inch larger than the cardboard pieces.

Step 3: Apply glue on the corner of the large cardboard piece and glue the fabric to it. I used E6000 for one case and tacky glue for another (Just to test). Both work great. Also use the print side of the cereal box showing inwards, because the print in the cereal box peeks through the fabric slightly, if that doesn't bother you, then its okay.  I am using it outwards here as it will easy to explain in the pictures.

Step 4: On the inside, glue the corners as shown first and then glue all the other sides. Repeat the same procedure for the side cardboard pieces too.

Step 5: Attach the magnetic clasp to the front bottom of the case and cut the felt for inside of the case with the same measurements reducing around 0.1" all sides. Attach the other part of the magnetic clasp to the felt piece. Make sure that the clasp is attached at the right place to ensure closing when the pencil case is done.(Detailed steps for attaching magnetic clasp, explained here)

Step 6: Glue one side of the side panels to the sides as shown and the glue inner felt piece. Once it is dry, glue the bottom and the other side of the side panel to the main piece. Use a binder clip to hold it in place and then you are done. Once it is dry, your new square pencil case is ready to enjoy !! 

This is my trial version of the square pencil case, I used pleather/ vinyl for inside instead of felt but the areas where the glue applied was wrinkly and it was obvious that glue has been applied.That is the reason I switched to felt.As said earlier, I used the printed side of the cereal box for outside and the prints were showing through.So, I recommend using a darker fabric or use the inner side of the cereal box as outside.

This case can hold quite a lot of supplies.

Hope you enjoyed this simple DIY. Share what you think in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you.

Other Cereal box crafts you might like:

DIY Rotating Jewelry Storage using cereal box

DIY Easter Baskets from Cereal box & Milk Jug

Cereal box into Storage Box

How to add style to your boring plain sweatshirt

Do you agree that we all have a plain sweatshirt that seems boring but you can just stop wearing it as it is  of great fabric quality and saves you from cold weather.Well, I do have one like that.I got it as a birthday present and it never fails to keep me warm but it looked kind of boring as it was just plain. You know that I am not that plain kind of person. So, to bring in some style I added some patches .Let see how to do it so that you can turn yours also from meh :( to wow :) sweatshirt.

Materials Required :
A plain sweatshirt
A contrasting fabric with pattern of your choice
Scissors
Marker
Fabric glue

In this tutorial , we are going to add a patch of fabric to the pocket and the elbow of two hands.You can however get more creative and add patches as you wish to enhance it.

Step 1: Lay the printed fabric on the top of the sweatshirt pocket. Trace along the pocket outer edge leaving 1/2 inch to fold.Cut the piece.

Step 2: Fold 1/2 inch inside and apply glue to adhere. First complete the bottom and sides. Then do  the openings of the pocket by folding the fabric inside the opening for clean finish and then the top portion of the pocket.

Step 3: Now to the elbow patches. Use whatever shape you desire.It need not be a oval patch as you normally see everywhere. I made a butterfly shape template with paper and traced it on to the fabric to do a butterfly elbow patch. To do this, wear the sweatshirt and mark the areas of where the patch has to go with a masking tape or marker or whatever you get in hand at that moment ;). Now draw the shape you wish on to the fabric and cut. Apply glue to the outer edges of the shape and apply it on to the area you marked.Tada! You are now done !! You can now rock the road with this new look!

Alternatives : Instead of fabric glue you can also use heat and bond sheets or just a simple running stitch with a needle and thread will also work.
You can also add patches to the shoulder area if you feel the top of the shirt needs some style.

 I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion glue for this project  but I did not wash the shirt yet to tell you whether the glue works after wash.But it adheres well and does not leave glue stain.(Happy about that part :) ).Update: The glue did not withstand even a single wash. So I would not recommend using Aleene's Fabric Fusion glue.
I am testing it for the first time so I would recommend Aleene's Ok to wash it fabric glue as I have used it for many projects like  DIY travel kit, DIY hershey's pillow, etc.

Hope you like this idea. Feel free to share your comments below. As always I will be the happiest person to hear from you. If you have any doubts ,feel free to mail me at Vikalpah@gmail.com or ask in the comments below.

DIY Faux fur Ear Muffs

The climate is becoming colder and colder day by day and its time for the ear muffs,coats,gloves and boots. I usually wear beanie to cover my head but I wanted to try ear muff that is fluffy and kind of like a headband.When I searched for it, the price was like $20 in normal clothing stores and it was like $50 in Anthropologie.I said to myself well,I am not going to get that instead I will make my own. So, here is how I made my own faux fur ear muffs.

Materials required
Faux fur less than quarter yard( I got quarter yard just in case if I want to make many )
Sewing needle
Thread -Matching color to the fur
Head band (I got mine at dollar store)
Glue gun
A piece of felt (optional)
Poly fill stuffing
Marking chalk
Scissors

My Inspiration for this project

Image Source : Anthropologie

Step 1: Cut a oval template of your desired size in a cardboard. (Make sure the size covers your ears ;).Lol,That is the ultimate aim of this post ;P).With the template , trace 4 ovals on the wrong side of the fur and cut it.

Step 2: Wear the headband and mark where you want the muffs to start approximately . Glue that point on to the wrong side of a oval fur with glue gun. Cut a piece of felt and glue that above the headband for extra security.

Step 3: Take another piece of fur and place it right side facing together. Thread the needle and start stitching blanket stitch all around leaving a small gap.Turn it inside out so that wrong sides face each other.If you want to know how to make blanket stitch, click here. you can also use glue gun to join the pieces but it was kind of messy and I did not get the right shape when I tried. But if you are comfortable you can go ahead with glue gun.

Step 4: Now, if you want the ear muffs to be fluffy , add some poly fill stuffing and close the remaining with the blanket stitch.Repeat the same for the other side.And that's it.You are done! If you don't want the fluffiness, you can simply close the stitch without adding the filling. It is up to you. :)Here I will show how it looks with and without stuffing.So, it will be easy for you to decide.

How easy is that to make by yourself? What do you think about this ear muff? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.As always I will be very happy to hear from you.If you want to know how to make the scarf that I am wearing , click here.

DIY Knotted Scarf

Now it is the perfect time for Scarf .Inspired from the fall colors , today I am going to show you an easy and fun way to make your own scarf. The most important point to be noted is you need not know knitting or crocheting to make this scarf. Oh ya !! Hi-five !!If you are also like me, who does not know both of them but still urging to make your own scarf with your favourite colors or seasonal colors.Now to the materials.

Materials Required :

2 Rolls of chunky yarn (Each 55 yards)
Scissors
Rubber bands
Clothes pins (Optional)
Tape

There is no right or wrong way to chose the colors ,quantity or quality of the yarn. I used chunky yarn as I had that in hand.You can also use super chunky yarn for more fluffiness and also you can also increase the number of columns as desired.

Step 1: Cut as many 4 yards of yarn as possible from the 2 rolls of chunky yarn. I planned for 6 columns and each column has 3 piece of each 4yards . At the end, I had some extra yarns so I added them to the outer columns so it is 4  4  3  3  4  4 for each column.(Here the number denotes no. of 4yards for each column) I used clothespin to separate the yarns from knotting before actually starting the knotting process.

Step 2:  Tie a overhand knot for each column by combining all the pieces of yarn for that particular column leaving 3 to 4 inches at the end.Secure each column with tape so that it is easy for you to work .

Step 3: Wind each column of yarn into a spool with hand and secure it with a rubber band so that it is easy to knot and also prevents knotty mess between yarns ;). Unwind and wind as you go.

Step 4: Make a square knot with yarns of column 1 and 2 , 3 and 4 , 5 and 6  .Measure 2 1/2 inches from the previous knot to keep it even.

Step 5: Now to the next row of knots. Make square knots with 2 and 3 columns & 4 and 5 leaving 1 and 6 just like that.As said, the distance is 2 1/2 inches from the previous knots.

This is how the pattern looks.

Step 6: Repeat the same steps, till you run out of yarn and secure the ends as we did in the beginning.

The final scarf measured 2 3/4 yard and if you want to decrease the length you can tighten the measurement between the knots from 2 1/2 inches to 2 inches or you can decrease the length from 4 yards to 3 1/2 yards.You can also add more columns if you want more fluffiness as said earlier.

These yarns were on sale for a $1 each and so the total costs to make this scarf was $2.Even if you want to add 3 more columns then it comes $3 which is not a bad deal at all.What do you think ?

There are a lot many ways you can wear a scarf to create various looks.I will link to a you tube video where you can learn 25 ways to wear a scarf.

How easy was that ?? Will you try to make one ?If so what colors do you prefer.Is there any particular way you wear scarf. Share with me in the comments below.As always happy to hear from you.If you have any doubts feel free to ask in the comments or mail me at Vikalpah@gmail.com