Pen Holder for A5 notebook

Supplies Needed:

2 strips of fabric (I used quilting cotton) 18” x 2.5”

1 strip of lightweight fusible interfacing 22” x 2.5”

1 piece of elastic 1”-1.5” wide, app’x 6” long

Thread

1. Cut your 22” strips of fabric into two 12” strips and two 6” strips.  Cut your interfacing to the same lengths.  

Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of one of the 12” strips and one of the 6” strips.

2. Sew the two 6” strips, right sides together, at each short side with a ¼” seam allowance (or don’t pay attention and use a 3/8” seam allowance like I did, whatevs).  Press the seams open.  Turn right side out and press.  This is your pocket piece.

Note: I used my topstitch foot the whole time because I’m lazy, but you can use an all-purpose or quarter-inch foot, too.

3. Topstich ONLY the top edge of the pocket.  Leave the bottom as-is.

4. Lay the pocket on the right side of the interfaced 12” strip (if your pocket has a right side, which mine did not, you want it facing up), about 2.5” from the bottom edge of the 12” strip.

5. Now lay the non-interfaced 12” on top, right sides together, and pin down the long sides (you’ve basically created a little sandwich with the pocket piece in the middle of the two long strips).

6. Sew down the long sides using a 1/4” seam allowance (which I actually did this time).  Leave the short ends open.

7. Turn the whole thing right-side out and press flat.  Turn the raw edges at the short sides under (into the tube of fabric) by about half an inch and press.

8. Topstitch all the way down both long sides, and across the bottom of the pocket, securing it to the long strips.  Do not topstitch the short sides.

9. Wrap your pen holder around the cover of your notebook and measure the gap between the ends.  Cut your elastic smaller than this measurement – you want it to be short enough that it will be securely stretched, but not so much that it’s impossible to get on and off.  Make sure you allow about a 1/2” extra at each end for seam allowance.  I cut my elastic to about 5 inches.

10. Insert the elastic into one of the open short ends, about ½” in.  Topstitch in place.  I backstitched over the elastic several times on both sides to make it secure.  Repeat at other end.

Voila!  All done.