Purse Organizer

I saw a long time ago on late night infomercial TV, a commercial for a purse organizer. They sold it as a great way to keep track of things, but to me it is a great way to take the essentials from one bag to another - very important for me right now not because I have so many handbags, but because I don't want to carry my purse to night school when I have plenty of room in my backpack - thus I made a mini purse organizer.

Step 1 was to figure out how big - I laid out the items that I need to keep in my purse and want to take to class. I then allowed for 1/2" seam (1/4" seam allowance on each of the sides). I also allowed space for the bulk of the items in each pocket. I then wanted to fold the organizer up to make the pockets about 3 inches.

Cutting the fabric - for my organizer, I used 2 pieces (one liner and one for the outer fabric) of fabric that measured 21" x 9" plus I used a piece of receiving blanket also 21" x 9" instead of interfacing - still trying to get rid of all this nursery flannel and using it in place of interfacing where I can.

Lay the right sides together of the liner and the outer fabric, then place the interfacing/receiving blanket on top of wrong side of the liner. Stitch together with a 1/4" seam allowance around all sides, leaving a 2" gap at the bottom for turning.

Clip corners and trim seam allowance, then turn inside out. Press, then edge stitch the entire rectangle. Fold 3" from the bottom up with the liner fabric facing you so that the liner stays on the inside. Stitch the left and right side so you have one big pocket. Measure where your pockets will go, mark with chalk and pin in place. Sew each line from bottom to top.

Place your goodies in the pockets, then wrap either around itself, or you can place it so that the items line the bag instead of wrapping around itself. Now you can easily transfer bags, or easily find your stuff in the pockets.

Cat toy tutorial

It seems that the kitties were not getting any love around here lately so I decided to use some of my scrap receiving blanket stash to make them a toy. I thought about making a simple ball, but then found this great rat toy template from Martha Stewart. The pattern is for a felt rat that is hot glued together. My cats would destroy that in minutes, so I opted to sew it, put some felt ears on it, fill it with catnip and fiberfill, and put a rope tail on it.

This is my first tutorial so please provide feedback and ask questions. I do recommend if you make this, make sure the kitties are not in the sewing room because they could not wait for it to be finished.

You can make this from scrap - I used a small rectangle of receiving blanket and about an inch square of felt for the ears. You also need a 3 inch piece of rope for the tail, a tablespoon of catnip, and two big handfuls of polyfil. Pattern pieces cut out - then I realized I have two of the same side so I cut a reverse of the rat side shape.

Cut a slit halfway into the ear, then fold over about 1/4". I then sewed a V shape into the ear so it would stick up a little bit.

Place right sides together of the two rat sides and sew with about 1/4" seam allowance - I did 1/8" so the rat would be bigger.

Turn the two sides right sides out, then mark two eyes and a nose with either chalk or a water soluble marker. I used the button hole foot (accidentally) but it worked really well. I did a very tight zig zag stitch for the eyes and the nose. This rat has no mouth, but you could add one - I just couldn't picture the rat's expression since I knew this was going to be a toy to torment kitties.

Turn inside out and sew the bottom on and leave about 2" at the base of the tail for turning and for stuffing.

Turn the mouse right side out, fill the nose with at least 1 Tbls of cat nip, then stuff with a washable polyfill. As you can see, the one kitty was ready for this to be done right away. They love catnip. My son had a great time stuffing the toy.

More stuffing - we used a chopstick to press it into the edges and get the mouse into shape. Stuff it loosely, not too full.

Once you finish stuffing, take a piece of rope about 3 inches long, insert into the opening. Tie a knot into the end of the rope. (Don't worry about the end past the knot fraying. Any products to prevent fraying would be toxic to the kitty.) Pin the rope into place so it does not move while you reinforce your seams. Fold the ends by the tail in and edge stitch around the rat on all sides. Reinforce the tail - sew straight over it a few times - this will be tugged on so you do not want to rat falling apart at the tail after you reinforced all those seams.

Final rat - cute little thing.

First examination of the toy... and to see who would win first chance at the kill...

And once it was caught... I am really glad I reinforced the tail because he started pulling on it with his teeth and pushing on the body - he was determined to pull the thing apart but it has held up for hours of play!

Train Shoe Holder

This was a really fun project. With each new project, I learn a lot of lessons on what I would do next time, and this was no exception, except that I doubt I will make this one again, but who knows...

I got the pattern and instructions from the book Sew It Tonight, Give It Tomorrow, which ironically took me about 4 nights to finish. My son already loves it and kept checking on my progress daily. "Is the choo cho train finished now, mommy?" What better motivation than to have your two year old check on a project. Now having been a project manager in my previous life, and having these sort of projects - I will say that having a deadline slip with a two-year old is more intimidating than the call to a client to say that a deadline has slipped.

Shoe holder in action - my toddler loves putting things away so this is perfect because he didn't have anywhere that his shoes belonged other than the floor of his closet. Another step toward independence!

I had to include this because the cat really enjoyed this project too. This was the felt for the train wheels, and other black parts. There is enough left over from this and the car fleece from the car organize project that I can make another kitty bed.

Car Organizer Project

Nothing repurposed here - just a need to organize all the toys that have taken over the entire backseat of the car.

I took my son to the fabric store so he could pick out the fabrics and ribbons for this project. When I got home, I was able to complete this project in about 2 hours - 90 minutes of naptime and about 30 minutes after bedtime:)

This is a Joann Fabrics project - although next time I would have sewn the pieces together rather than use Heat N' Bond tape - I think it would have been just as easy because fleece does not seem to take to that stuff well. Also, I fear that with some minor wear, it may come apart, but maybe I am wrong....

4 pieces prepped for assembly

Final project laid out to torment kitties (one was camera shy - they other can't stand the ribbon)

Final product filled with toys. The bottom pocket is under the seat so might not be too practical at the moment, but it was large enough to fill with a few books.

On the green side of things, this fleece is supposed to be made from post consumer plastic bottles. Not sure what I think of that right now (and too serious a topic for right now), maybe a post for another time.

Reusable Produce Bags

My new empty homemade produce bag!

In an effort to reduce consumption, I decided to make some of my own produce bags to take shopping. Whenever we are at the store, in the checkout lane, I look at these plastic bags of produce or bulk items and wonder why am I filling my cloth shopping bags with lots of little throw away plastic bags. At least the plastic grocery bags I do re-use for kitty litter changes, but these produce bags are so flimsy, they cannot be re-used (at least not in my house for anything I have thought to re-use). I bought a bag from reusablebags.com, but it was a little pricey for as much produce as I buy, and it seems to be a little burdensome to the cashiers when they have to open the bag to see what the item is so they can ring it up. I have tried training the cashiers that you can see the numbers on the stickers through the bag, but this is just more work than I want for a grocery store trip. So I decided to make my own bag. I can make several for a low cost, I can pick the fabric, and it is a great sewing project for someone needing some practice since I am a newbie at this sewing thing. My favorite color is purple, so I decided to buy some bright purple nylon mesh - very transparent, and quite sturdy. The drawstring is not so pretty, but it is simple unbleached cording. No need for a closure because friction keeps the bag secure.

No pattern needed - just pick the size of bag you want, cut, sew edges, then sew in a hem line so you can insert a drawstring. Tie a knot in the end of the drawstring and you are done. Simple project - pretty bags! My large bag can hold about 4 lbs of apples (pears, peaches, whatever really). And I have made some smaller bags to hold nuts, seeds and legumes. The holes in the netting are small enough that the things I buy do not fall through. I will probably also make a couple out of cheesecloth so I can put things like millet, quinoa, and rice in them too.

You may ask if this is much heavier than the plastic from the stores - I don't know the exact weight difference, but I do now that none of my bags weighs more than 0.1 oz. My calculations for average produce at about $2 per pound means that this bag costs me about one penny on the scale. If I go to Whole Foods, they give me a dime for re-usable bags, so I actually make $0.09 on each bag that I use. Not a bad buy really. I made 7 bags total from 1 yard of fabric which I bought on sale for $0.99. I spent about $2 on the drawstring, and I had the purple thread. This $3 investment will pay for itself within about 30 uses of the bags.

My new produce bag filled with 4 pounds of pink ladies!

Repurposed Receiving Blankets - Project 3 - Crayon Roll-up

I found a pattern for making a crayon roll-up through Joann's fabrics which was the inspiration for this roll-up. My son has the twistable colored pencils and crayons - my hope was that those would be refillable, but alas just more plastic for the landfill. I wanted to give credit and post a link to the original pattern, but I can no longer seem to find it on their website. Anyway, it called for fleece and novelty patterns and is very cute. I decided to make mine from you guessed it - repurposed fabric. I also had to alter the measurements - I have only 12 pencils for mine and they are quite taller than standard crayons. I used the following:

2 cotton rectangles measuring 7 1/2" x 12 1/2" - this is the front and back material which in mine is the animal print (a repurposed crib sheet)

1 cotton rectangle measuring 10 1/2" by 12 1/2" - this is the pocket folded in half (so I did not have to hem the packet). Mine is the blue pocket which is a repurposed dress shirt of my husbands that is way too big on him now.

1 receiving blanket square measuring 7 1/2" x 12 1/2" - I used this instead of a fusible interface to give the roll some structure. I used a very faint pattern so it would not show through the back of the roll. The only things I bought for this project were a $0.50 roll of ribbon and some ric rac - I have only been sewing for about a month now and need to practice my trims and my edging. Luckily I am more critical than my son and he loves it.

This is the roll halfway rolled, half way unrolled:

All bundled up - view from the top:

And all bundled up on the side:

Repurposed Receiving Blankets - Project 2 - Menstrual Pads

I have purchased Lunapads in the past and I really could use a few extras. These are more like pantyliners than true pads. I just realized that I did not take a finished product picture - but took a couple along the way pix.

I made a pattern from one of my existing lunapads and added about 1/2 inch to the length of it because being almost 6 ft tall, I need a little more length there too :) I took the scraps from the diaper project and cut out enough fabric to make 2 pads - 2 large pieces that include the wings.

And the absorbent layer made from one layer each of receiving blanket, and shop towel. I then sewed the two layers together (the shop towel and the receiving blanket) right sides together, then turned them inside out, and top stitched the opening. Then I sewed this pad into the large pad with the wings and added velcro to the wings to secure. This is technically a reversible pad because it can be worn with either side up, and the velcro will secure either way as well.

Repurposed Receiving Blankets - Project 1 - Contoured Baby Diaper

I had (who am I kidding - have) several piles of receiving blankets ready to go before my son was even born.  I had no idea what they were for, but everyone (really.. everyone!) with a child told me you can never have enough receiving blankets.  I started to wonder after he was born if this is just some joke other moms play on new moms or moms to be to see how many blankets a new mom will collect.  I never found a use for them as a blanket or otherwise.  

When I started cloth diapering, I realized how silly it is to CD, but then use disposable wipes.  So off to the stash of receiving blankets I went with my pinking shears to make my own wipes.  5 blankets later, and I have plenty of wipes that have lasted over 2 years now.  I still have a large cloth grocery bag full of receiving blankets and now what do I do?  

Project 1:  Make my own contour cloth diapers

This weekend, I made my own pattern from one of my favorite pocket diapers and created a very cute reversible contour diaper.  I have just recently begun sewing so this is a relatively simple project that anyone can do.  I used 2 blankets, and 1 microfiber shop towel from a stash I bought a couple of years ago when we gave up papertowels.

1. Line up 2 blankets.  Fold the blankets in half (or thirds).  Line up the long edge of the pattern on the fold of the blanket.  You should now have an outer layer and an inner layer.  This is a contour diaper and will need a cover so it is okay that both inner and outer are absorbable material.
2. Cut out the soaker - I used a shop towel cut into a strip 4" wide by about 15" long.  
3. Sew the soaker layers together - I didn't bother turning them inside out on this one - I figure it is inside the diaper where no one sees so it should be okay, and it didn't seem to feel uncomfortable through the other layers, so I think it is okay with my son too.
4. Lay the soaker layer inside one of the cutout blankets and line up so the center of the soaker runs down the center of the diaper and is about one inch from the bottom of the diaper.
5. Top stitch the soaker layer in place.
6. Lay right sides of the blankets together and sew together leaving about 3 inches on the top side so you can turn the diaper right side out.
7. Turn the diaper right side out, then fold under the opening.  Sew together.
8. Voila! Contoured baby diaper!  I did not do it on this pictured one, but I will be modifying it after the next wash cycle.  I am going to go back and sew down the center of the soaker to reinforce the stitches and hold it together on both sides.  I am also going to reinforce the edges by doing a top stitch around the entire diaper.