Bobbin Roll

Finished my bookmark! The best was when my 2-year-old son picked it up and stared at it and then announced, "Pretty!" 

So, last night I was winding up some bobbins for my next project (boy do I need a bobbin winder!) and I decided that I was sick of storing my bobbins in the plastic zip top bags they came in. So, I jotted down some measurements and came up with a plan for a bobbin roll which I made this morning.



Matterials:

• 1/2 yard quilter's cotton for front/inside (or 1/4 for front, 1/4 for inside if you want them different patterns)
• 1/4 yd quilter's cotton for pocket and pocket binding (alternatively you could purchase single fold binding, you only need 21 inches).
• 1 yd 1/4 inch ribbon.
• 1/4 yd fusible fleece, regular fleece, or felt.
• Matching thread.
• Basic sewing supplies (sewing machine, scissors, tailor's chalk or marking pen, etc.)

Cut pieces (1/4 in seam allowances included)

• 2, 8-1/2 in by 20-1/2 in pieces (one front and one inside).
• 1, 8-1/2 in by 20-1/2 in in fleece (or felt).
• 1, 3-3/4 in by 20-1/2 in pocket material.
• 21 inches bias binding made from pocket material (or purchased). A great bias binding tutorial can be found here. 

Iron and cut your pieces and make your bias binding. Attach your binding to one long side of your pocket. This will be the top of your pocket.

Next you will pin your pocket onto your inside piece so that both right sides are facing you. Now you mark every 1 in along the bottom of the pocket. Using a washable marking chalk, marker, or whatever you prefer (must be removable or fading) draw your sewing lines every 1 in, parallel to the short side of your pocket.

Starting to sew 1 inch wide pockets.

Do a little extra back and forth at the top of each line to reinforce the top of the pocket since these will get the most wear of any part of your roll. Don't bother to sew up the sides of your pocket as these will be captured when we sew the roll together.

Attach your fusible interfacing to the wrong side of your front fabric, or baste on your regular fleece or felt. We're just using this to add bulk and cushion to our roll.

I miss-measured my interfacing, but it won't affect the project.

Now, Place the inside piece (with pocket) and the front piece (with interfacing) together with right sides facing.

Everything should line up evenly.

 Now cut two strips of ribbon 18 in long. Place these inside your fabric sandwich so that the tails are tucked inside and pin to the middle of one of the short sides of your roll. If you want to be extra sure to capture them when sewing you can overlap the edge.

Ribbon ties pinned in place.

Now start sewing on the top side about 2 inches from center and sew around leaving yourself an opening large enough to turn the project through. Once you've finished sewing, turn your project and push out the corners to points (or sew rounded corners if you'd like).

Opening that I turned through.

Now that opening needs to be closed. Use a ladder stitch to closed the opening.

All closed!

Now you just need to trim any stray threads, iron the roll, and fill it with pairs of bobbins!

This roll will hold 20 pairs of bobbins. 

So neat and tidy and pretty!

All rolled up. I may shorten the ribbon.

Here's how large it is in comparison to my hand.

This project turned out really well. I'm sure it would not have gone so smoothly if I hadn't already made two knitting needle rolls, but since I had this was a cinch. I don't think I would make a roll much longer than this, maybe 24 inches (24-1/2 with seam allowance) to hold an even two dozen bobbin pairs. If I had more bobbins than that which needed storing I would just make 2 rolls, otherwise it would be silly long.

Thanks to my husband for watching both kids all morning so I could make this!