How to make a simple Pencil Cup Organizer! Fast and Easy

Hi there and welcome back! Today I want to highlight our newest YouTube video tutorial “Free Quick and Easy Sewing project for Back to School-Pencil Cup Organizer”. 
This video is the first in a series of simple sewing projects that will help you improve your sewing skills. Each video tutorial should be easy enough to follow along, that there's no need to purchase a pattern.

Since we are beginning this series off in September, I wanted to start with how to make a Pencil Cup Organizer. I made one of these a few years ago while at quilt camp with some of my dear quilting friends. At the time, I wasn't sure if I would use it, but thought it could be fun to make anyway. Now years later I can tell you that this little organizer has sat by my sewing machine holding all of my goodies ever since I brought it home.  

It's the perfect size for your sewing room or for holding miscellaneous household items, and makes a great gift for your favorite student or teacher. They're so quick to make that you can easily make more than one. 

For this project you will need three different fabrics:  

Red Gears from Matthew's Mini Monsters by Matthew Pridemore

Pipes and Monsters from Matthew's Mini Monsters by Matthew Pridemore

Black Gears from Matthew's Mini Monsters by Matthew Pridemore

Supplies you'll need:

Fat ¼ for the body of the organizer (Red Gears print in example)

Fat 1/8 for the Pockets (Pipes and Monsters print used in example)

¼ yard for the binding for the Binding (Black Gears print used in example)

You will also need (1) piece of batting that's the same size as the body of the organizer, and (4) 3/8” x 8” ribbons for the ties.

This video covers everything from cutting to basic quilting with a walking foot, pressing and pinning and adding on a binding using the Binding Ruler. Let's get into it!

To start, let's start with how to measure the cup you plan on using, in order to figure out what size to cut your pieces. 

In our example shown above, the cup was 4 ½” high x 12” around the widest part, so the cutting for our project was as follows:

(2) 9” x 12” pieces for the Body & Batting

(1) 6” x 12” piece for the pockets

(1) 2 ½” x 60” strip for the binding (we show you how to piece this in the video)

Once you are cut and ready to go, we will walk through basic quilting with a walking foot:

How to press and pin the pockets in place to create box pleats (easy peasy, I promise!).  

And Finally how to put a binding on completely by machine as well as how to use our Binding Ruler. This method is the same method I use on all of our quilts so it is a handy technique to know)

Need a Binding Tool of your own? You can get one here, on our website: https://www.thewhimsicalworkshop.com/shop/c/p/Binding-Tool-for-212-Binding-with-Binding-by-Machine-Instructions-x12686132.htm

I hope you've enjoyed this simple sewing project and have learned lots of new sewing skills. We would love to see your cup organizers and what you put in them! 

Let us know in the comments if there other simple projects you would like to see me make and share with you in future videos and stay tuned for more virtual trunk shows, free projects, sewing tips and tricks, and more! 

Thanks for following along.