Organizer Folder Tutorial

I am always looking for a good way to organize the stuff in my purse. Something easy I can pull out of one bag and throw into another. Or, GASP, into the diaper bag. That includes my calendar, notepad, and brag book.

So I came up with this quick, easy, and cheap organizer. I bought four fat quarters and was able to make three out of the fabric (with planning). I also used batting, velcro and interfacing. So here goes- the first tutorial.

  

I used four different fabrics. You will need:

Fabric A- 8.25" by 13"

Fabric B- 8.25" by 13"

Interfacing- 8.25" by 13"

Batting 8.25" by 13"

Fabric C- 2 pieces of 8.25" by 11" and the closure- 4" by 4"

Fabric D- 6" by 10"

Velcro- about an inch

I bought these at Target- all together it came to about $5. Make sure to pick up these items prior to sewing so you can know if you need to make any adjustments to the height of the organizer. All seams are quarter inch unless otherwise listed.

Starting with Fabric D, fold over and press a quarter inch along the LONG side. Than fold in half hamburger style.

Take identical pieces of Fabric C and press in half wrong sides together to make into a 8.25" by 5.5" rectangle. Place Fabric D piece on top of one piece aligning the folded edge of Fabric C with the edge you did the quarter inch fold. Sew 1/8th of an inch along that one side.  

Place the calendar up alongside the edge you just sewed. Draw a line with a fabric marker to see where to stitch. Sew along this line. This will allow for a pen pocket. Than place both pockets on top of Fabric B, fold side toward the middle.  

Place Fabric A on top of the batting to make sure it is the exact right size. Trim if necessary. Than iron interfacing on to the back of Fabric A.

Than with the last piece of Fabric C (note- mine is shown as in Fabric B's pattern because I lost my original piece) fold over a quarter of an inch and press. Than fold and press in half, and fold edges into the half line to create a three clean edges.  Open the last fold and sew one part of the velcro about a half an inch on all sides.

  

 Sew the other half of the velcro onto Fabric A at the midpoint of one of the shorter edges.

 So it should look like this- Fabric B on the bottom, pockets on top, with the tab (velcro side down).

 Followed by Fabric A with right sides facing and velcro on the opposite side than the tab, and last, the batting.

 

So this next part is the hard part to show. Start sewing on the side without the tab only about 1.5 inches from the corner. Sew to the close corner, turn, and sew the next three sides. When you come to the last side, turn and sew only 1.5 inches again. This will leave a 5 inch gap to pull it right side out.

So than, pull the right side out. Use a long stick type thing to push out the corners (I used a really long knitting needle, but make sure you don't push through the stitches), and iron top and bottom.

Make sure the loose middle gets tucked in nicely while you are ironing. Use pins to hold it in place and than top stitch all the way around.

You should be done!!! Fill with your calendar, notepad, pen, and brag book. It will look like this.

Thanks for sticking it out through my first tutorial. Please add comments if you have any questions and I will try to help you though it.