- 1 'fat quarter' quilting cotton, trimmed to 17" x 20"
- white, or other light colored fabric, cut into an 8" x 17" rectangle
- 1 piece interfacing - 17" x 10"
- 1/8" narrow elastic, cut 3" long
- 1 button - the one I used was 3/4", you could also use one that's a bit larger
- (optional) Pigma fabric marker to mark hook sizes on pocket slots
I used 1/2" seam allowances throughout.
The hook roll that I made was specifically designed for Etimo (brand) crochet hooks. It should work for other hooks too, but be aware that you'll need to take your own measurements if making for a different hook -- especially in the width of the slots you'll make for the individual hooks to fit into, as hooks with handles can vary in width.
Your 'fat quarter' fabric is used for the outside of the roll, and is later folded over to form the inner lining. You don't have to use quilting fabric, or fabric measured into a 'fat quarter' -- it's simply what I had on hand and wanted to use. Regardless of what fabric you use, trim it into a rectangle that measures 17" x 20", then press (if needed).
The white (or light colored, plain) fabric will be used to make the hook pocket that will have channels stitched down for the individual hooks to go into. Again, use any fabric that you like -- I chose white so that I could easily see the hook size markings that I later added with a fabric marker. If you don't want to mark the hook size -- well, the sky's the limit on what you choose. I'll continue to refer to this hook pocket fabric as "white" in the directions though.
Trim your main fabric to 17" x 20". On wrong side of fabric, adhere interfacing to one half of the fabric. I used a fusible interfacing and removed excess from my seam allowances before fusing. If using a non-fusible, baste it to your main fabric.
Take your white fabric, fold it in half so that you have a 4" x 17" rectangle. With the right (public) side of your main fabric facing up, baste the white strip to the bottom of the main fabric, cut edges even.
Now, mark where you'll need to stitch channels to hold the hooks. For the Etimo hooks, I decided that 1" wide channels would work well. For other hooks, you'll need to determine the measurement for yourself. Here's how -- place a hook into the pocket -- pin a comfortable distance from the hook on either side of the hook, making sure that you can easily slide the hook in/out of the pocket. Remove the hook from the pocket, and measure the distance between the pins -- this will be how wide to stitch your channels.
The first line I stitched was 1 3/4" from the cut edge of one side of the roll. Why that much? Well, I wanted a 1" wide slot, I had a 1/2" seam allowance, plus I gave myself another 1/4" for 'wiggle room' because it was on the outer edge of the roll. From that point, I simply measured the rest of the markings in one inch increments from that original marking.
One side of my hook roll has a much wider pocket -- for a small notepad, gauge, pencil, whatever. I did this because I only needed 10 slots for my hooks -- your needs may be different. Depending on how many slots you need, and how wide you need to make them, you may not be able to have the last slot be the same measurement as the others. If this bothers you, have fun designing your own hook roll!
After marking, stitch a line down the pocket at each mark -- you may want to reinforce a bit at the top. It's a short distance, so easily 'eye-balled', but mark the full length of the line (with a removable ink marker) if you're feeling a bit insecure about stitching even slots.
OK, now that you've finished stitching the channels, let's close it up! But first, take that short, 3" length of elastic and fold it in half into a tight loop shape. Baste this loop -- cut edges of elastic even with cut edges of one side of your roll about 3" - 4" from the bottom of the roll. Now, this is important -- the loop of elastic is facing the interior of the roll -- cut edges are even -- nothing is sticking out beyond the cut edges of the roll.
Now, fold the entire roll in half -- right (public) sides together. Stitch around the outside edge, BUT REMEMBER TO LEAVE AN OPENING FOR TURNING. I left about a 3" gap on the bottom edge of the roll. It seemed to work well there, and that's what I'm recommending. After stitching, trim seam allowances and corners if desired, and turn the roll right side out. Press it nicely, and close up the opening you left for turning. I simply edge-stitched the entire length of the bottom of my roll, but if you like to hand stitch...
Almost done!
Mark sizes on the individual slots, if you want to!
Fold down the top portion of the roll, so that it will cover the top of the hooks, and help prevent them from falling out when the case is rolled up. With my hooks, I decided 3 3/4" was a nice fold down -- your mileage may vary. Press this down well -- you can also top stitch this fold if you'd like. My fabric holds a nice press, so I didn't feel the need to top stitch.
This is how it looks with the flap up:
The only thing left to do now is position the button. So, fold the case as you'd like, and mark where the button needs to go to be caught by your elastic loop. My finished roll is (approximately) 4 1/2" x 6" and looks like this --
There you go -- wasn't that easy? And now you're so organized -- happy stitching!
