Depends on what you are using the roll for. Mine are just heavy fabric for holding wrenches, pliers, and screwdrivers. I picked the material because it was free. But what you are going to put in the roll should be what drives the material choice. Heavy tools, heavy fabric. Your spice kit could be made out of something light and easy to clean. If you need to see what is stuffed in a pocket use clear vinyl for the pocket, my adventure medical first aid kit has this.

If you are thinking of making your own here is a diy gear forum with information on sewing your own stuff,

http://www.diytactical.com/forums/

Don't know much about that forum and there are probably more, but there is good information and suppliers there.

If you make your own be sure to post a few pictures and show off your work.

Hey D,You know what works,Really Well,Those Cheapy White Canvas Tool aprons,usually with ACE Hardware stamped on front,They're 2-3 bucks each.It would be Real easy to Doctor them up,To your own specifications,If you have a Speedy-Stitcher,If not they are $10 w/2-needles & waxed thread,Good Luck!

thanks, rich, I will lookinto the Ace tool things. I have a speedy sticher but its "thread" is pretty coarse.

I use tool rolls for certain tools, I think it's made from Cordura or some other heavy canvas type of material. Sometimes it's convienent, other times a tool bag is more useful. For example, if you have a lot of long narrow items, and you need to have the entire selection exposed for a certain task (i.e. wrenches, screwdrivers, or in your case cooking utensils) and have plenty of space to use it, it works great.

However, it does take up a decent amount of flat space to have it unrolled, so say if you're working on a small area where there isn't a lot of area to lay it on, things tend to fall out. And sometimes the space/storage ratio isn't great if your tools aren't uniform, such as using it to store short or misshaped items. That's when I like using a small canvas toolbag, you can set it on a dashboard, shelf, your lap, almost anywhere. I use multiple smaller bags to separate my stuff into different catagories, that way I don't have to dig through a huge bag looking for one item.

I think a tool roll is better for storing items too keep them from getting damaged, but a tool bag is easier to actually work from.

If your tools are noisily rattling around in the tool box, that is Nature's way of saying you need to obtain more tools!

More seriously, consider simply padding them with good old rags, which will be useful in their own right.

I like tool rolls instead of hard boxes because I can stuff them in places. The tools I carry in my truck stuff under the very back of the back seat so they don't take up any usable space.