Rolling on Up

So a few years ago, I made these crayon roll-ups for my friend's kid.  One for the girl:

And one for the boy:

To date, these have been some of my favorite fabrics.  I love the butterflies and have used it in various projects.  I think I'm down to just six inches of scrap at this point.  And then I've always adored this SpiderFrog fabric.  So much fun.  Not much left of that either.

Anyway, one of my young friends is heading into kindergarten next week and her mom threw her a little gathering on Labor Day to celebrate.  I decided to revisit this old crayon roll up.

I don't remember where I found the original pattern for the butterfly and SpiderFrog roll-ups, but this one was made using the tutorial over at The Pleated Poppy.   I found some awesome glitter crayons for it.

They are not marked as washable, so it may have been smarter to have used a dark liner fabric, because whenever they get put into the pockets, they leave little crayon schmears, but live and learn. 

The only thing I changed from the Pleated Poppy tutorial was the closure method.  They suggested sewing on a hair tie and a button to keep it closed, but I went with some twill tape I had left over from the puppet theatre project.

I had a moment of regret later in the afternoon when I saw my young friend making knots with the tape to close it up.  I voiced my regret to her mother, but I was instantly reassured that the twill tape was better, because it would help her daughter learn how to tie a bow.  I also learned that velcro shoes are a non-negotiable must for kindergartners and first graders.  Seriously?  No laces for those first two years of school?  That's so weird.  I know that I was the last kid in my kindergarten class to learn how to tie a shoe, but it's still weird that laces are banned.  

What do you think?  Should kids only wear velcro shoes in school?  Or are we setting up future generations for developmental delays in their hand-to-eye coordination skills?  Nuts!