Wrench Pouch

If you're like me, you have a ton of wrenches and no good way to keep them organized. This instructable will show you how to make a cloth pouch to keep them organized in a compact way. As a benefit, if you choose the right fabric, the cloth will help clean off the wrenches and is easily washable!

Thins you'll need:

1. sewing machine

2. scissors or rotary cutting tool for fabric

3. measuring tape or measuring mat

4. fabric pins

5. pattern paper (I used packing paper meant for shipping because I couldn't find the real stuff)

6. 1 yard of fabric. Please be kind to the environment and animals by using cotton or synthetics only (I chose a felt-like cotton for washability and safety around high temperatures). You may be able to use 1/2 yard of fabric if your fabric is wide enough. I suggest making your pattern and then using it to help pick the fabric.

7. iron and ironing board

Before you get going on this, you can start your fabric in the washing machine if you haven't. Pre-washing your fabric ensures that is shrinks to its final shape and won't cause warping or too much shrinkage after you've sewn it together.

1. lay out your wrenches in a shape that makes sense to you. I suggest at least a 2" spacing between wrenches, anything tighter will make it difficult to get them in and out of the pouch.

2. Measure the length of each side of the wrench arrangement and draw lines on your pattern paper to match. You should come out with something like the second picture. Note that I started with the horizontal distance of 14" from the outside of the largest wrench to the outside of the smallest wrench. This 14" measurement is just temporary and doesn't mean anything to the final pattern. The dotted lines show that this line will be a fold in the fabric in a later step.

3. After you have your 4 lines drawn, mark out 1 1/2" extra along the dotted lines and 1/2" extra along the solid ones. The 1/2" is allowance for a hem, and the 1" is the fabric that will be folded over to hold the wrenches in place. If you want more than 1" you are welcome to do that, but 1" seems to be enough for me.

4. The last step is to draw out a rectangle for the strings that will tie the bundle closed. I've used 2" x 20" as shown in the last picture.

1. Cut out your pattern

2. Iron your fabric, fold it into two layers that your pattern can fit onto, and iron it again. DO NOT SKIP THE IRONING. A flat wrinkle-free fabric will save you a lot of headaches.

3. Pin the pattern to your fabric and don't skimp on the pins. If you use too few pins the pattern will shift and you could end up with fabric that is useless. Most of the time it pays off to be clever and put one edge of the pattern on a folded edge to save sewing time (you don't have to hem a folded edge). In this case I chose to save fabric and place the pattern in a more compact way on the fabric instead.

4. Cut around the pattern to make two copies of each of your fabric pieces.

1. Pin around the edges of the body piece.

2. Hem 1/2" around the edges, but leave a 2 - 3" opening in the large side as shown in the second picture. We will insert the strings into this opening in a later step.

1. Fold your strings in half the long way and pin them.

2. Sew a small hem as shown in the second picture. You can leave one end open since it will be hidden inside the body, or you can sew it all shut.

1. Turn the body inside-out and iron it flat. Again, don't skip on the ironing.

2. Place both of the strings about 1" inside the opening of the body. Fold the edges of the body opening over to match what has already been hemmed and pin the opening shut (use pins to mark the end of the opening so you know how far to sew).

3. Sew the opening shut.

1. Fold one side of the body edge over by 1" and pin the ends.

2. Place your wrenches in using the spacing you decided on earlier.

3. Mark the midpoints between the wrenches and pin those points down

4. Sew a tough stitch on each mark. If you leave a little space un-sewn near the folded edge, the wrenches will have more room and it will be easier to get them in/out.

Repeat the last step to create pockets for the wrenches on the other side of the pouch.

Put your wrenches in, roll it up, and tie it shut. You're done!