Let’s Roll… (Crayons and Kids)

Yesterday, my parents rolled out with my kids in the car with them. They’re headed west – grandparents and grandchildren on a Grand Roadtrip. And tucked next to each girl is storage clipboard, filled with a few goodies to make the miles fly by a little faster.

The crayon rolls were an afterthought. I haven’t sat and made anything in weeks—the last three posts all showed things made prior to the strange exchange. I’ve just been too busy.

But the night before they were leaving, I decided the 24 new crayons we put into each girl’s clipboard should not just bang around in there. And fall out when a girl opened it. And get lost and stepped on and ground into the van carpet and ruined and so on.

And I decided I needed to make something!

There are loads of cute crayon rolls all over the internet and I’m assuming there are loads of great tutorials for them too. But it was already late and I had very little time, so figured I’d just make it up as I went along.

I’m glad I remember, for a change, to not use my “good” fabric (the one Middle Child picked out for her rolls) right away. Instead I grabbed one that would be cute enough for Youngest, but not so precious that I’d mind scrapping parts that didn’t work out. Like the 5” I ended up cutting off the top because my idea for a flap to cover up the crayon tips was a really bad one!

All the crayon rolls I’ve seen thus far use a ribbon tie to keep them shut, which I knew would be ridiculously useless in this case since two of my three children can’t tie a bow! Not wanting to fiddle with finding enough elastic at this last hour and then figuring out the best way for it to fit, I went the Hook-and-Loop-Tape route. (A.k.a. Velcro!)

My first attempt was just a plain rectangle, but I didn’t like how the corners flapped out when it was closed, so I made the next one tapered.

While making these, I included extra fabric between the last crayon and the closure. I thought that extra bit of fabric would help the velcro curve around the roll better so it would stick better. Plus the fabric would protect the last crayon a little more. But if I make more, I might experiment with having no extra fabric there…

And speaking of Velcro, clearly I have some things to learn about attaching it so it actually keeps things closed. Exhibit A:

Exhibit B (in which I attempted to streamline my process and ended up causing even more problems – not only was my velcro wrong, I couldn’t even turn the roll completely right side out!):

In the end, I made sets for Youngest and Middlest, whose clipboards are too slim to hold the crayon box, and a set for Oldest (in her favorite color), because by then, I knew what I was doing, and I knew my bit of extra time and effort would go far to make her feel included and loved. So here they are all rolled up…

…and here they are all laid out.

Enjoy your crayons, girls.

And enjoy your “kiddles,” Opa and Oma.