I received the ‘Everglades’ fat quarter set by The Craft Cotton Company and soon as I saw the crocodile design I had an idea to make something crocodile themed.

I always need storage for stationary and especially for crochet hooks as I leave them all over the place and then wonder why I can’t find them anywhere! I decided to for a crocodile themed storage case – I didn’t want to go for a traditional zip topped case so I opted for a top opening case with a fold down top – which was perfect for the crocodiles head!

I tried a few different options with the eyes, but having them pop out the top I think looked the best – it gives a little more character to the case.

For more fabric pencil/storage case ideas, check out my Shark and Crocodile fabric rolls sewing tutorials.

Sewing Tutorial: Crocodile Storage/Pencil Case

Materials

• Everglades fat quarter set by the Craft Cotton Company.
• Paper.
• Pencil.
• Ruler.
• Scissors.
• Black felt.
• Needle.
• Thread.
• Pins.
• Press-stud.

Sewing Tutorial: Crocodile Storage/Pencil Case

1. Using the paper make a template for the crocodile pieces: a body piece, mouth/nose piece, teeth, and eyes. Using the templates cut out from the fabrics:

• Body template: two pieces of green with a 0.5cm seam allowance (main body), two pieces of blue with a 0.25cm seam allowance (lining).
• Mouth/nose template: one piece of green and one piece of blue with a 0.5cm seam allowance (mouth outside and inside).
• Eye template: two pieces of green, two pieces of white with patterns.
• Teeth template: 12 pieces of white with patterns. 

2. Take two of the teeth pieces, place right sides together and sew around the edges leaving one side unsewn. Turn out the right way.  Repeat with the remaining teeth pieces to give you 6 teeth.

3. Take one of the green and one of the white eye pieces, place right sides together and sew around leaving the bottom straight edge unsewn. Turn out the right way and repeat with the remaining eye pieces. 

4. Take the green mouth/nose piece and place down right side up, place the teeth down each side of the mouth/nose with the raw edge of the teeth against the raw edge of the mouth/nose piece.  Take the two eyes and place them along the top edge of the mouth/nose piece – raw bottom edge of the eyes against the raw top edge of the mouth/nose (make sure you place the eyes white side down).  Place the blue mouth/nose piece right side down on top and sew around to secure leaving a 5cm gap for turning.  Turn out the right way and slip stitch the gap closed. 

5. Take the mouth/nose piece place it right side up and make sure the eyes are folded so the white side is facing down, take one of the green body pieces and place right side down on top.  Sew along the top edge. 

6. Take the remaining green body piece, fold the top edge over by 0.5cm and place right sides together with the body/nose/mouth piece.  Sew around to secure leaving top edge unsewn.

7. Make the lining by taking the two blue fabric pieces and fold over the top edge of both by 0.5cm.  Place right sides together and sew around to secure leaving the top edge unsewn. Do not turn out the right way. Place the lining inside the crocodile body and sew around the top edge to secure. 

8. Cut out two small circles from the black felt for the eye pupils and sew onto the eyes. Cut out two small rectangles and sew onto the mouth/nose piece as nostrils.

9. Take the press-stud and sew one side onto the underside of the nose/mouth piece and the other onto the front of the main body. 

For crochet storage case ideas check out my Minecraft storage cases (Mooshroom Cow, Steve, Creeper, Ghast).

The tutorial to make this is also over on The Craft Cotton Company’s Blog