Silverware Roll

A friend recently asked that I make a silverware roll for them- apparently they could only find them commercially to hold about 5 pieces of silver, and they wanted one that would hold more, for work purposes. When I said that they looked easy enough, he asked for 2, and for them to hold 10 pieces of silver.

So I created a pattern and made one- only to figure out at the last minute that I hadn't allowed enough fabric in my pattern to create a flap to fold over the tops of the silver. And naturally, I had already cut the fabric for the second one, with the faulty pattern, and sewed the pieces together, and ironed it, and everything except create the slots. AUGH! Good thing I had a LOT of this fabric sitting around the apartment. I updated the pattern, and cut again, determined not to make the same mistake.

The second time around, my pattern worked out perfectly. So about a week later, I went ahead and cut the second one, and put it all together. Had a moment where I thought my 50-year-old iron had finally crapped out, but I just turned the plug around in the outlet and that seemed to work (yikes! I'm going to need to get a new iron someday!).

I finished the second roll, only to realize that it only had slots for 9 pieces of silver, and then remember that I had actually added an inch on to the pattern the first time around, but without marking it on the paper or adding paper to the pattern. Why do I do these things? However, I've decided- oh well. So he gets one with 9, and one with 10. Both still more than 5. There's nothing wrong with the pattern, technically, all the important aspects to make it usable are there- the ribbons, the flap, the silver dividers, the other flap- it just holds one less piece than 10.

Most silverware rolls made commercially are just serged around the edges, but I don't have a serger. To make this work out for me, I cut two pieces of fabric, sewed them together, then turned it right-side out and ironed to make the edges crisp. I topstitched around the edges to keep my ironing job in place through washing and use, since a lot of the fabric in the top flap isn't attached to each other any other way. Slot seams were sewn through all thickness, after the fabric was folded up. They are visible from the outside when rolled up, but I used a navy thread that matches the fabric (and they are visible from the outside on the ones that can be bought commercially, so I don't feel so bad about that).