High speed sewing: tea towel cutlery roll

The camping season is upon us.  And this year, the cookbox will stay tidy, and organised, and the teaspoons won't all fall to the bottom, nor will sharp knives lurk under the ketchup to stab the unwary.  Because THIS YEAR, I have made a cutlery roll.  The inspiration struck on Saturday afternoon and by tea time I had made what I needed, thanks to a dash round Tesco and a couple of hours with the pins and needles.  Should you also want to restore order to your cutlery, here's how I did it.

You will need:
a tea towel - mine came from Tesco, £3 for 3 tea towels.  The other two will also go camping, no more drip drying for MY Cath Kidston picnic ware...
Needle & thread
pins
A ball of string (sort of optional)
A crochet hook (even more optional)

First, lay the teatowel out flat and fold one end up to the depth needed to hold your cutlery.  Pin several straight lines, one each side and a few in the middle, to make pockets, like so:
Sew along the pins using backstitch.  This teatowel was waffled so the grid was very handy to help keep my stitches straight. Fold the top part over the pockets and roll up - voila, a cutlery roll.  If you have had enough sewing now, you could always keep it closed with an elastic band or spare hairband.  Alternatively, get a ball of string and your crochet hook.  Make a slipknot, and using the hook, pull the string throughto make a new loop.  Keep hooking the string through to make a chain like so:

When the chain is long enough, cut the string, pull the loose end through, and pull tight to close.  If you don't posess a crochet hook, you could just plait the string to make a similar rope.

Pin the string in place on one edge of the roll. about where the top of the pockets is, and check you can do the roll up and tie securely.  Sew the string in place.  You're done.
Okay, its a very black cutlery roll.  But this is going to a campsite, remember, and black won't show the dirt.  If you wanted something more arty you could use a flowered tea towel , or a vintage one from a charity shop.  You could use anything for the ties - bits of ribbon or whatever.  I quite like string though. 

And I've proved you can sew even without a trip to John Lewis haberdashery.  Your local Tesco will suffice, at a pinch.  Next week: Spontex scourers into corsages.  I'm sure Gok Wan would approve...

Comments

[silvia]

very nice emily :-) looking forward to more tips around dressmaking :-)

[Term papers]

Its really great I am sure my mom gonna love this thanks for sharing..!