My husband is one of the nay sayers of Badge Magic, so I have to sew all of the badges on our uniforms. Sharp needle, short stitches, mono filament thread. I must admit I cheated on the Cub Scout uniform and bought the diamond plastic holder, so that the pocket was still usable. My hand did not fit in the pocket to sew the Tiger badge on.
For a Tiger project, felt cut into 18 inches by 2.5 inches and folded over to make flaps works great as a pencil holder. You can put a button on to hold it shut, and no sew button hole, because felt doesn't fray easily. The felt is easy enough to sew