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Pen Holder for Journal


Skill level: Beginner

You will need:

  • Cotton fabric
    • Two pieces - 18cm x 5cm
    • One piece – 12cm x 5cm
  • 20 cm of 6mm elastic
  • Sewing machine
  • Thread
  • Ruler/tape measure
  • Scissors/rotary cutter
  • A5 Notebook
  • Clips/pins
  • Knitting needle/chopstick

To make:

Take the shorter piece of fabric and press a 5mm hem around all edges. On your sewing machine, straight stitch along one of the short edges. Put the piece of fabric to one side.

Take the two longer pieces of fabric and press a 5mm hem on one of the short ends of each piece.

Place the small piece of fabric, right-side up, on top of the right side of one of the longer pieces of fabric, in the middle vertically, and 1cm from the bottom edge – ensure the hemmed edge of the small piece is at the top. Straight stitch around three of the sides of the small piece, leaving the top hemmed edge open to create the pocket for the pen.

Lay one of the pieces of fabric on the table, right side up. Place the elastic vertically in the middle of the fabric, there will be some excess elastic at the top/bottom.

Take the second piece of fabric and place it right side down onto the first piece of fabric and the elastic, with the pressed hems at the same end. Clip/pin to hold.

Stitch a 5mm hem around three of the sides of the fabric. Do not sew the hemmed end. Clip the two corners.

Turn the fabric inside out so the right side of the fabric is now showing. Use a knitting needle/chopstick or another similar item to carefully push the corners out to create a point. Press. Placing the loose end of the elastic in the middle of the bottom of the open end (place it in by 1cm), stitch along the bottom of the fabric, closing up the end and stitching in the elastic.

Tips and ideas

  • If you would like to add more than one pen to the holder, increase the width of the fabric pieces by approximately 1.5cm for each additional pen.
  • As little fabric is required, you could use fabric scraps from your other projects.
  • If you would like to use the pen holder for a larger notebook, you will need to extend the length of your elastic.
  • Embellish the pen holder with vinyl or sewn-on initials.
  • Create a personalised pen holder to pair with a notebook to give as a gift.