Make Back-to-School Memories with a New Box of Crayons -

Child holding a first day of school photo prop that says "Pippa's First Day of Kindergarten" made using the Pockets Full of Dreams sewing pattern. Also shows the back side of the prop where pockets hold printed photos and Dream Cards.

Hi! I’m Casey Chatham from Sew Worthy Mama. I create sewing and quilt patterns designed with motherhood in mind. From playful projects that invite the kids to join in or cozy quilts to snuggle up with, my goal is to help moms find joy and creativity in sewing while bringing beauty to their homes and creating new memories and family traditions. (Note: This post features a few recommended items with affiliate links. If you buy supplies through these links, I earn a commission at no additional cost to you.)

When my daughter was starting pre-K this past year, I found myself at Walmart at about 9pm the night before searching for one of those letter boards that you see people use to spell out quotes on Pinterest. (Also used for lobby directories.) Not especially school-related, but I’d seen people spell out their kids’ names and write what grade they were entering and snap cute photos on the first day of school.

I wanted that cute photo, but hadn’t really planned ahead—and there I was striking out, aisle-after-aisle. So, I went home and told myself I’d just accept a photo of Pippa on her first day of pre-K all by herself and promised myself I’d figure out something cute before kindergarten.

So, naturally, after completely failing to find something cute—or even just anything at all for a pre-K photo—I went ALL OUT for kindergarten and wrote a pattern for you, too. I don’t want you wandering the aisles of Walmart the night before school starts trying to figure it out!

Grab Your Copy of Pockets Full of Dreams

More Than Just a Photo Prop

Child holding a first day of school photo prop sewn using the Pockets Full of Dreams sewing pattern. The prop says "Pippa's First Day of Kindergarten."

OK, but if I’m going to put the effort and fabric into making something for once-a-year use, I need it to be outstanding, and I need it to be more than just a photo prop. So, I created Pockets Full of Dreams, one part first-day-of-school photo prop on the front and one part unique keepsake “album” on the back! It’s the perfect recipe for a new family tradition!

Wait, a photo pocket what now? Yes, this is a whole new thing, so maybe you need to see it to get it!

Luckily, Riley Blake had the perfect new fabric collection to go with this pattern, and I was sooo happy I got some to make a sample! The Crayola collection, A New Box of Crayons, screams “school fun,” but the best part about it is that it’s not overly childish. School-related fabric can be a little heavy on the apples and ABCs, but this project needs to be used for 12-14 years. I love that this collection is colorful and happy, but won’t make the tweens cringe too much! It also works just as well for boys and girls alike.

This collection will be in stores this month! Keep your eye out for it. With back-to-school season right around the corner, I bet it will go fast!

I used:

Confetti Cottons, Cloud (solid) for the front panel
Kaleidoscope in Black for the black appliqué text
Confetti Cloud for the back panel
Stripe Cloud for the pocket flaps
Kaleidoscope in Yellow for the pocket binding
Scribbles Multi for the binding

Let me walk you through how you’ll use this photo prop/album to make back-to-school memories, not just photos.

The Front Panel

Using fusible appliqués, you’ll customize the notebook-paper-style front to say “[Your child]’s First Day of ___ Grade”. The last two lines are filled in with detachable, Velcro-on-and-off labels for each grade. Each year, just stick on the new grade label, and you’re set!

You’ll take your kid’s photo while they hold the “notebook paper” sign up, but that’s not even the half of it. There’s more fun on the back…

A flat lay showing a Pockets Full of Dreams first-day-of-school photo prop sign that says "Pippa's First Day of 4th Grade" next to an assortment of grade level labels and a stack of Dream Cards.

The Back Panel

Clear vinyl pockets on the back form a unique keepsake “album” where you’ll store the photo for each year AND a Dream Card.

What’s a Dream Card? So glad you asked! The pattern includes printable Dream Cards which you can think of like little interviews for your kiddo each year. It provides prompts like “I dream of being ___,” “I dream of learning ___,” “I dream of visiting ___,” “I dream of trying ___,” and more! Record your child’s aspirations and interests over the years. Plus, you’ll be tracking their developing handwriting over time, too! What a sweet way to notice the little changes and how cool to build this together!

The back side of a Pockets Full of Dreams project showing the PK-12th grade labeled clear pockets meant to store a child's first-day-of-school photos each year along with Dream Cards. Wooden background. A stack of Dream Cards is fanned out on top of the project.

Putting It All Together

To keep everything safe, there are flaps covering the tops of each row of pockets to keep the dust out and the memories in. There are also hanging ribbons so you can store your project in a closet between uses. The front and back are sandwiched together and bound around the edges just like a quilt! If you have sewn a quilt, clothing, or a bag before, you’ve got the skills to make this!

Two Sizes, Two Styles

How do I recommend getting physical printed photos in 2025? Oh, man, this is SUCH a good question! In fact, answering it led me to make the pattern in two sizes. So, let’s talk about the photos and sizes in detail.

I think most of us struggle to print many photos these days. I know I certainly do anyway! I have tried lots of systems. Your Walgreens one-hour type photos, your specialty online photo print orders, your print-from-an-app mini album books. You name it, I’ve probably tried it. But I had never tried a simple at-home photo printer before. I mean one dedicated to photos only. I’ve ended up falling in love with two, and you can’t make me pick a favorite!

A Kodak Dock Era photo printer along with 3 printed photos. One is a child on her first day of PreK. One is the same child on her first day of kindergarten, holding the Pockets Full of Dreams sign. One is the same child making a heart with her hands.

So, I did my research, but couldn’t decide between a Kodak Era printer which makes 4″ x 6″ photos and an Instax Mini Link 3 printer which makes 2.1″ x 3.4″. (Instax instant cameras also print in this size.) I figured many people would have one printer format or the other, so I decided to design the pattern for both sizes of photos. The standard size Pockets Full of Dreams has pockets large enough to hold 4″ x 6″ photos and Dream Cards. The mini size has pockets small enough for the Instax type photos and a folded Dream Card. Obviously, the larger or smaller the pockets, the larger or smaller the overall project is. No matter which size photo speaks to your heart, you can make a custom photo prop that will work perfectly for you!

Like I said, you can’t make me pick a favorite size, BUT there is one really cool little feature that the Instax printer has that just puts a cherry on top of this whole project for me… It can print a still photo frame captured from a video with a QR code on it that will play the video when scanned. You could even ask the Dream Card questions interview-style during your video and let your kid answer verbally.

For this sample, I decided to go with the standard size and the 4″ x 6″ photos.

So, Just Imagine This with Me…

You set up your Pockets Full of Dreams to say “Emma’s First Day of Kindergarten,” and you snap a few photos. But you also take a short video to capture her voice, her wiggles, her laughter through her toothless grin. Fast forward 12 years… Emma’s a senior, and you just put her last photo and Dream Card in the last pocket. She’s gone on to school already, and you sit back with your coffee and scan each photo in the pockets and watch those first-day-of-school videos one by one. You see her grow, you watch her change. It feels like yesterday that you were stitching those pockets and pressing those appliqués.

I’m getting emotional just imagining it! I have a 5-year-old and 2-year-old, so we are right at the very beginning of their school journeys. But I know everyone says it goes by in a blink. I’m so happy that I’ve created this project to collect all the first-day memories along the way!

Who Can Make This?

A process photo showing a sewing machine and hand as binding is sewn onto a project.

The real question is “Who can’t?!” If you have basic sewing or quilting skills, you can do this! I did classify it as an “intermediate” pattern for a few reasons…but if you want to make this pattern, that’s enough. Nothing can stop a mama on a mission to make memories!

It requires a few different techniques that absolute beginners may not be familiar with—but they’re techniques that beginners can absolutely learn! It’s a bit larger than your typical bag or garment project, so it could be a bit fiddly for total newbies. It calls for a few more supplies than beginners usually have right on hand, but who doesn’t love a reason to stock up on neat new sewing thing-a-ma-bobs? Sewing with vinyl comes with a few new skills, but as long as you have the right tools (and they’re all explained in the pattern), you got this. For these reasons, I classified it as “intermediate,” but don’t let that word scare you!

Frequently Asked Questions

What if my kid is already a few years along in school? Can I still use this?

Absolutely! Your kid does not have to be going into pre-K to start using Pockets Full of Dreams. Let’s say your kid is going into 5th grade. You have a couple of options. You could start numbering your pockets at 5th grade, or you could simply add past photos from previous years to the earlier pockets, even though they won’t have the front panel included in the images of those earlier years. That’s no big deal.

The back of a Pockets Full of Dreams project showing the clear pockets with grade level labels. The PreK and Kindergartedn pockets have photos of a girl on her first day of each grade inside them.

My daughter, Pippa, started pre-K last year, and I just printed the photo I took on her first day. There was no prop, but that’s OK. In fact, creating this special place for it meant I finally, actually printed the photo. Now, it can do more than live in my cloud forever! You could also stick your kid’s photo from the school yearbook in here. If you’re anything like me, most of those prints are just sitting in a drawer. Let’s give them new life!

My kid can’t write yet. What do I do with the Dream Cards?

No problem! Just discuss the prompts together and take a few notes of what they say for them. When they’re ready to write for themselves, you’ll begin to collect their developing handwriting, but there’s no reason not to get their thoughts down for them until they’re more ready to do that for themselves.

Where do I find all the supplies?

Supplies needed for the Pockets Full of Dreams pattern. A roll of Premium clear vinyl from By Annie's. A can of Odif 909 Permanent adhesive spray for fabric. A Fiskars paper trimmer. 4 Sew Tites magnetic pins. A removable marking pen. Fray Check. A teflon non-stick presser foot. A package of Stema-A-Seam 2 sheets. A roll of twill tape. A roll of Velcro. A 12 mm bias tape maker.

The PDF pattern has references and links to get you exactly what you need to get started. The links provided make it easy-peasy to get the right stuff, fast. I did all the shopping comparisons so you don’t have to!

If you’re lucky enough to have a quilt shop or craft store nearby, you should be able to grab most of what you need there.

Do I have to have a printer?

The back of a Pockets Full of Dreams project showing the pockets labeled "3, 4, 8, and 9." A Kodak Dock Era photo printer. A printed photo of a child holding her sign that says "Pippa's First Day of Kindergarten." A stack of Dream Cards that say "I dream of being...learning...making...meeting...visiting."

Yes and no. You will need to print off your Dream Cards, but you don’t necessarily have to do that at home. You could use a service such as Staples or other copy shop option to print your cards. Same with your photos. You’ll want them actually printed—not just living on your phone—but it’s up to you if you want to invest in a photo printer or just use something like Walgreens or an online printer.

Printed appliqués next to scissors and fabric from the Crayola collection "A New Box of Crayons" for Riley Blake on top of a gridded rotary cutting mat.

It’s also easiest to print out the appliqué templates onto your Lite Steam-A-Seam sheets to make fusibles, but if you don’t have a printer, you can work around that. Just trace the templates onto the sheets over your computer screen. (Just be gentle! And plan for a little more time.)

Personally, I purchased the Kodak and Instax printers while developing this pattern, and I’ve found it really exciting to start printing more photos to keep around our home. My 5-year-old didn’t even realize it was possible to print the photos I take on my phone, so she’s loving this new activity!