DIY hall closet organizer

You know those lovely craft projects for organizing your front hall table or wall with a place for keys and mail and tissues and umbrellas and reusable shopping bags and so on?  Yeah, must be nice to have any space at all inside your front door.

Not that I'm complaining, much: for a while I had this crazy idea about moving to a bigger place in my neighbourhood and the open house tours revealed that I'm incredibly lucky even to have a closet there.  What was it with those 1940s builders?  Did winter not require coats then or something?

To make matters worse, you pretty much fall into my kitchen from the 'front hall', so the counter caught all the stuff that comes and goes in one's everyday existence.

Now, I did put together a fix for this, an incredibly makeshift affair that worked okay, even if it wasn't pretty.  But I dreamed of something better, and finally, after at least three years of longing to reuse the same pieces in a more functional fashion, I had the time and materials and a gorgeous new Bernina sewing machine for which I wanted some simple sewing projects to start off with.

I present to you: my hall closet organizer:

(Yes, that's the 'After' photo.  I know, sad - isn't it?  Where do all those water bottles come from anyway, and why on earth do I keep them?  There aren't that many picnics in a summer.)

Let's break this baby down into its parts.

1/ An over-the-door hook thingy from IKEA.  It's got six hooks with 2-3/4" centres and some spongy padding to keep it from scraping the paint off your door, so I love it, and have several.

2/ A garden variety shower organizer with two hooks - vital, if you want to accommodate those umbrellas.

3/ A supercheap clear plastic shoe organizer from the dollar store.  It originally had a metal hanger sticking out of the top, useful for connecting it to the over-the-door thingy, but I cut it off for this project.  And I have to tell you, I hated the thought of reusing the shoe thing here.  I so wanted to sew my own pockets.  But you know what?  A DOLLAR.  Clear Pockets.  Strong enough to last 3 years already of bottle storage.  And about an hour of my time saved (to say nothing of the fabric savings.)  Sometimes even procrastinators have to be practical.

4/ My new addition was 8 yards (post-shrinkage) of - again, cheap - 19" wide, pre-hemmed on the sides, linen tea towel fabric.  I bought this years ago when I was fantasizing about becoming skilled at embroidery, and wanted a canvas.  This stuff was black and white which I love, and apparently I thought I'd need a whole lotta yards of it, but after washing and drying it I hated the feel and stuffed it away in a drawer to get musty.

When I remembered it for this project I had to wash it again, of course, and this time it came out like butter.  So, craft tip:  Even cheap linen is amazing if you only wash and dry it enough.

Instructions

Since it's already hemmed, you're going to love the width of the tea towel fabric exactly as it is and worry only about length.  Mostly.

Cutting

Main piece: 60"

Top facing: 6"

Pockets: 1 at 5", 1 at 6.5", and 1 at 8"

Tabs: 6 at 6" long and 2.5" wide

Pressing

1/ On one cut end of each pocket and the top facing piece, press a 3/8" fold, then fold up again at the same distance and press again.

2/ Press one end of the main piece up by 1.5", then fold the edge of that down by 3/8" and press that too.

3/ Fold each tab lengthwise and press flat, then press in a tiny fold on each of the long sides so you can topstitch it shut later.  You are not worrying about the short ends at this time.

Sewing

1/ Stitch down the folded hems for each piece, including tabs.  I used black thread and tried to sew really straight.   Emphasis on 'tried'.

2/ Place unhemmed edge of main piece against unhemmed edge of facing, right side to right side, then tuck the business end of the tabs between the two layers so the ends are flush with main piece and facing.  I laid the ends flat and butting sides at points exactly 2-3/4" apart.  (remember the centres on the over-the-door hook?) Stitch together, using a 1/4" - 3/8" seam.

3/ Fold facing back, press it open, then fold it behind main piece and stitch the sides of the main piece and facing together.  Topstitch the main piece about 3" down from its top edge to secure facing.

4/ Pin el-cheapo shoe organizer to top left corner of the right side of the main piece, just below the topstitched seam.  Sew all four sides.

5/ Pin shortest pocket piece wrong side up onto right side of main piece, with the unhemmed edge closest to the shoe organizer, such that said edge is about 6" lower than said shoe organizer.  Stitch along the unhemmed length, fold up and press open, then topstitch along the seam.  Sew sides of pocket to sides of main piece.

6/ Pin middle pocket piece as in 5/, but 7.5" from bottom of shortest pocket.  Continue as for 5/.

7/ Pin largest pocket piece as in 5/, but 9" from bottom of medium pocket.  Continue as for 5/.

8. Topstitch all three pockets into sections to suit your needs.  I sewed up the middle of the deepest pocket, then divided the middle pocket into three and the top pocket into four.

Finishing

1/ Hang tabs over over-the-door hook thingy.

2/ Hand shower organizer over the second-from-right hook.

3/ Fill as needed.

4/ Have a cup of tea/some chocolate so you can face cleaning up your sewing area.

Cutting up some wool

I don't seem to be sewing much now that I have a new machine, but I certainly am cutting.  Every few days for a few weeks now, I've spent an hour or so slicing up my stash of wool sweaters into tidy little squares:

The general effort is toward 4.5" squares, but I can't always make it in the amount of fabric that's left from previous cuts so I have a few that are narrower.  Later on I'll pair them up and stitch them, patchwork-style, into the requisite size. 

I'm going to make a blanket with them eventually , but I couldn't resist cutting out a heart from one tiny scrap.  It might look cute appliqued on somewhere, don't  you think?

Oh my, I sure do love a felted wool heart.

Best ever parcel delivery

Okay: who would not want to be startled out of a tea-pouring reverie by the thump of this between their two front doors?

I went fabric shopping at Alewives.  Hey, a girl's got to have something to put a new sewing machine to work over.

Want to see what's inside?

Some kids' fabric for making little presents like Gingercake's Art Caddy Tote...

And more of the same, though let's face it, you know scraps of this stuff are going to make their way into grownups' presents too...

Assuming the grownuppy choices are insufficient for same.  That's a lovely hunk of linen on the left for contrasting and enjoying generally, and an equally lovely bundle of scraps. 

You want to see what's in the scrap bundle too, don't you.

YUM is what I have to say to all that.  Some of it is velveteen, very exciting as I'd never think to buy that for myself and I think it will be amazing paired with some of the linen.  Some of it is very very tiny, but in very fun patterns.  Which makes them perfect for the smaller bits of, for example, Melanie's business/gift card holders I have queued up to get a ridiculously early start on Christmas. 

Also for Thimbleanna's driver's license/keychain/changepurse project (I need this.)

Or even skiptomylou's pleated pouch (another great gift idea.)

In fact I've been gathering a lot of little project ideas over at Pinterest - if you've got exciting fabric begging to be used, you should have a look!

As for me, I'll be hovering over the washing machine.  Because you know I did not wait to pretreat any of it.

Cardboard pencil cases

Lately I've needed to have a couple of freshly sharpened pencils in my purse, which has been a Problem.  Because frankly, does anybody really want graphite marks in the purse lining, or holes poked through it?  Which is why I was attracted to a recycled pencil case project from Craftzine.com by Tiffany Threadgould.

Leftover cardboard is so much a better option for getting marked up by graphite than, say, a beautiful fabric pencil case (see objections above.)  I got to the compact version above by adapting the original design to a 1.5" width, which works for four pencils or two plus a pen.

Then I thought of two small friends down the block who might like one too...

... and then a few more people.  The pencil cases are kind of addictive; I kept on cutting after I took this picture.

Some tips:

In terms of sturdiness - Good: cookie boxes.  Better: cereal boxes.  Best: frozen food packaging.  

Check your cutout against the pattern: I managed to cut mine a little short so that they didn't quite fit the length of a new, sharpened pencil.  (solution: sharpen it some more.  nobody has to know.)

When you're scoring the fold lines, do it with the right side up, and congratulate yourself if you cut through the top layer of paper in the process.  It makes the fold SO much cleaner.

The design calls for self-adhesive Velcro, but I found I could just fold the top inside for an equally effective closure.

This project is a great excuse for bringing out Japanese masking tape.  Yum!

Maybe best not to use the box from your favourite cookies for your own pencil case, if you're trying to cut back on desserty things while out and using pencils.  Too much yum!

Valentine Fun: secret message tissue holders

I got a little overenthusiastic last week about making purse-sized tissue holders with my new Bernina, but can you blame me?

This project is from a tutorial for Sew, Mama, Sew! by Jennifer Casa, who offers three different variations on the theme.  Erika (who is responsible for my buying the Bernina in the first place - thank you Erika!) added a twist in the form of a carry strap when she made hers. I added a different one to make them perfect Valentine's gifts:  secret messages.

You want to know how I did it?

First up, I used the alphabet function I couldn't wait to get my hands on to make long strips of cheery words or symbols.

(It's dark in the living room.  I totally need to get this machine some full-time space on my desk!)

You can say anything you like, but I found that 15 characters are the most that's practical for the space you've got.  Both "Have A Good Day" and "Happy Heart Day" work well.  "Best Wishes for Chocolate", not so much, even though I personally would rather read that every time I put new tissues into the case.  I programmed in three underscores for cutting room before and after each message, then let the machine go on and on with it until I ran out of fabric.... and then turned the piece and let it run some more.

* Upcycling Tip *

For both the lining and the secret messages, I used castoff men's dress shirts.  I have a friend who, go figure, won't wear his crisp cotton dress shirts to work after the cuffs have frayed, so I have rather a good supply.  I got 31 lining pieces out of one shirt (see overenthusiasm above), and a ton of messages out of another.

* End of Upcycling Tip *

I cut the messages to leave half to three-quarters of an inch at the top and bottom, and halfway through the six underscores on the sides, so there would be something to fold under and press before stitching the message onto the centre of the lining piece. I gotta say, the ruler on the side of the sewing machine is something I really appreciated for this.

A short message like three hearts can run parallel to the long side of the lining piece:

But the long ones should run parallel to the short.

Trust me on this.

Then assemble the tissue holder according to the tutorial's directions.

Cute, yes?

And... even cuter?

I love these so much.  But I think I forgot to make one for me.

Embroidered bookmarks

About a month ago I spotted a clever bookmark project by Heather Hales.  It's similar in principal to the elastic loops riveted onto some of my journals - you wrap them around the hunk of journal between the cover and the page you're marking - but with a felted wool medallion for the cover of the book.  An embroidered medallion.  What's not to love?

I made a pair of my own to donate, along with some bookstore gift certificates, to a silent auction at one of my local schools.  The school crest is wine with gold, so I tried to mimic that with materials left over from other projects and made use of a tool I'd bought for cutting fabric circles (which was not, frankly, all that - I'll try it with some other fabrics and see if it works any better.)

Not to be hampered by my complete lack of fancy embroidery skills, I made do with running stitch.  Similarly, I substituted a blanket stitch border for pretty scalloped one that Heather did.

Then of course I had to figure out how to label them, because I wasn't presenting them with an actual book (sorry, nobody's getting my Judy Boltons anytime soon).  In the end I decided on explanatory tags:

In case you make some too and are in the same boat, mine read rather encouragingly "hand embroidered elastic bookmark - hug the band around the cover to the page you're marking, and rest your book in style!"

They were quick to make - I knocked them off in an evening and about half an hour of the next morning, part of the time having been spent deciding on designs . And I managed to secure the elastic in place with any stitches that ran past it.  You can see on the one above that a whole row of stitches runs along the centre of the elastic.  The one below got caught with every spiral.

I'd do this again I think... but I think they'd be so much cuter with colour elastics.  White is nice in a waistband, but bright orange or red would be pretty fantastic on a book, don't you think?

A vest from a sweater

The other day I discovered I'd missed by 24 hours a small friend's birthday.

PANIC

Plus, she has everything.  Fortunately I have a cupboard full of more than everything.  Specifically, this previously-felted sweater:

Prior to the panic it was in one piece.  But it didn't magically burst into segments - I had to snip.

Today we will look at what came of the body part.  First, some blanket stitch:

Pretty pretty blanket stitch, will I ever tire of you?  Especially now that I know to turn in the raw edge and catch it with some of the stitches so you get a nice clean finish?  (had I but disovered this trick before the vest project...)

The blanket stitch is burgundy because nothing else looked better and because I also had these cute flower embellishments in the cupboard:

You may have to trust me on the beads being the exact same shade of burgundy.  Also on the flowers being a rich purple, not at all this weird blue that the camera interpreted.  I sewed on bar pins - more stash cupboard genius - so that Small Friend's Mum can remove them when washing the vest.

This is what they look like on.  Cute?

I deem the vest Cute.

I just hope nobody minds the pink angora fluffs that are gonna be all over whatever she wears it with.

Sewing some snack bags

It occurred to me at the grocery store one day last year that I was buying a lot of plastic baggies for portable snacks, and I wasn't reusing them nearly enough.  I wondered whether I could possibly sew something for the job - and a very brief hunt online told me not only that I could, but that many, many others have done it already.

I decided on the fold-over-top technique advocated at Angry Chicken and started hunting for organic fabric, because I'd read that some fabrics are treated with things to preserve them from damage during transport that you do not want on your food.  Alewives to the rescue:

When this fabric arrived I worried that the half yard I'd bought of each might not be enough, so I stopped at Stitch in Jordan, Ontario during my next Niagara trip and found that Jocelyn stocks organic fabrics as well.  Hers are hand-dyed and hand-painted in India and have a very nice floppy quality that contrasts with Alewives' crispiness:

Don't you love how you can see where the artist adjusted the painting tool?

I bought three fat quarters that sort of coordinated, and dressed up some bags with contrasting fabric until I came to my senses (they are only for snacks, and I do not have unlimited time):

And then I got to work on my half-yards...

Which resulted in 27 bags, including the larger drawstring one, all stitched in double rows and the edges pinked because my old Singer has no zigzag function.

That's a lot of snacks.

Sewing the retro satchel

Okay, if we assume that by 'this week' I meant 'next week' when I promised to show the latest sewing project, then we're still good. Here it is:

Yep, another child-sized hiking satchel (tutorial here).  I am telling you, these things never get old: they are just the right size even for an early reader or graphic novel, with a pouch in the back for snacks or pencils or both, and plenty of room left over for juice, more snacks, a notepad or sticker book, and a little stuffy or some toys for long car trips.  Or, you know, you could use them for storing treasures found on an actual hike.

This time I ran into sooo many problems though, mainly because I was feeling sewing-averse at the time.  For a start, I'd already given a bag made exclusively from the vintage bedspread I wanted to use for a main fabric to a friend of the girl I made it for, and my only other option was this super dark denim that kinda drabbed it down. 

Compensation: lining made from a mostly unstained cut from a very old linen tablecloth my mum hung onto long after it was stained beyond whitening and worn into holes to boot.

Thank you mum!  It's so washable and incredibly soft to the touch - perfect for a project like this. My young friend will never have trouble finding the last ladybug-shaped chocolate in the bottom of her bag.  Also, I managed to use more bedspread for the pocket, and, having tracked down a white button with holes from the button stash I was able to use matching embroidery thread to make a shank version for the loop closure that ties in more of the pink.

(side note for anybody thinking of using a similarly ancient textile: I had to double-seam the linen lining because the fibers were so weak by the time I got to them.)

You can see where I messed up a lot of the topstitching, having procrastinated on making this till two nights before the birthday, but worse than that was a huge problem with the flap.  I deviated from my pattern thinking I could make the bag roomier by putting on a longer flap, and for some reason - hysteria induced by exhaustion? - I thought it would be cool to make the back part of the flap out of more denim.  Once I'd gotten it all ready to sew on I noticed I would now have to put the button down on the bottom of the bag, so I had to stitch it into the usual place, a pointless long flap hanging down the back of the purse.

Well, I thought, maybe she could wear the bag backwards in crowded airports - this girl's dad is a pilot, so she travels a lot - as a kind of teaser to thwart pickpockets.

Then I had a better idea and stitched on a very basic heart with my very basic machine, and because it looked as bad as that sounds I handstitched on a very basic heart with more of the pink embroidery thread.

For once, I think more is more, don't you?  She liked it, anyway, so I call it a success.

Spot the bedding

Yesterday I had to go to the fabric store to buy buttons

(newsflash: it is in fact possible to have the most stash buttons of your entire family put together plus the stash of at least five of your crafty friends and still need to spend $20 on retail-store buttons)

and spotted some denim ends in a bin for $4/meter.  Substitute yard for meter if you like, it'll do for this story.

Though I usually try to resist such indulgences when using public transit, I just happened to be carrying a much bigger bag than buttons typically require, so I bought about $7 worth of a lovely dark grey and headed home, where I immediately spotted a pillowcase on my stash fabric shelf with a shade of blue that comes pretty close to matching a blue crochet doily I've been wanting to use for something.

Then Michelle asked whether I want to meet up for coffee next week.  Aha! Michelle's birthday is in March.  A built-in excuse to drop everything and make a tote bag with the pillowcase for lining and the blue doily for an accent.

Of course, once I wanted it I couldn't find the blue.  But I did find a nice white one I'd been hoarding.

And then I did find the blue after all.

I gave both of them big roomy inside pockets - the white bag's being sourced from a sheet, not a pillowcase.

 

Both of these have been imagined as market bags - box bottomed, and deep yet narrow enough to hold the better part of a baguette from any of the nice bakeries on the high street.  Michelle doesn't actually use that high street any more, having moved a few neighbourhoods over, but I don't care, I will picture her carrying a baguette in her bag before visiting the butcher's and the fruit and veg store anyway.

A tougher call: which one do I give her?

Waiting

I thrifted some new sweaters last week, including this one:

Normally I would pass on something with this sort of embellishment over the front but, um... 100% cashmere, people.  For $6. I could not say no.  Bonus: it felted beautifully.

I have removed the cowl neck for use as a cowl (it is awesome) and

I have removed the sleeves to see whether it would work as a vest and

it fits me perfectly. 

I'm going to hold out for the perfect black merino sweater, cuffed or otherwise, and then I will cut the remains of this sweater in two for an empire waist and finish the neck and arms with a discreet run of handstitching or maybe black merino as seam binding, what do you think?  Then I will turn the merino upside down and stitch it to the cut line for a floaty vesty thing.  I'd go for a minidress but I think hoping for that much perfect black merino is pushing it, don't you?

Meanwhile: waiting.

How to send hugs to a sick and distant friend

What do you do for someone you love who's stuck in the hospital and you can't go visit?  Send a hug in blanket form, of course!

I can't take credit for this idea but I did do the sewing and can attest to its being a super easy project if you have the materials handy, in this case mostly leftover polar fleece though I was told a sheet would do. 

The friends with hugs to send each chose their own super soft felted wool from my embarrassingly large stash and traced one of their handprints onto scrap paper.  I cut two facing prints for each, pointed the lowest pair of hands downward - woolly fingers ready to be clasped - and turned the ones on the shoulders to the back for a hug.

And then I stitched them on and sent the blanket on its way, where I hope it's doing a whole lot of good.

How to make a hugging pillow

This Valentine's Day, I thought it would be fun to use up some of my softest felted sweaters on a pair of hugging pillows.

It would have taken maybe 4 hours tops including photography time if I hadn't gotten distracted by a pair of cats, but more on that later.

In addition to thread and a sewing machine you will need:

A set of nesting mixing bowls you are comfortable running a rotary cutter around
A rotary cutting mat and cutters
Scissors
Castoff cloth dinner napkins a little larger than the largest bowl, or other lining fabric
Stuffing
Soft felted wool sweaters, enough to provide at least four circles cut around the largest bowl
Yarn for blanket stitching the pillow covers over the pillow

First up, use the biggest bowl to cut out circles for the front and back of your stuffed pillow, plus the front and back of your pillow cover.  I found it easiest to cut up the sides of the sweaters so I'd get the flattest possible  fabric.  If you're layering a smaller circle over one or both of the covers, cut that with the next-smallest bowl.

(I did that because the super soft sweater I wanted to use for Side B features a delicate eyelet lace pattern not entirely lost in the felting.  Bit of a visual waste of the stripey underlayer but it wasn't really soft enough for a pillow on its own, and it does provide a lot of extra squish factor.  I put the wrong side up for nicely blurred stripes, a different sort of soft.)

Then cut out any embellishments, like a heart or a pocket.

You have to be opportunistic with felted wool sweaters. When I bought this orangey red cap-sleeved mock turtleneck sweater I couldn't figure out why anybody would design such a thing in superhot alpaca, but when I noticed how nicely the cap sleeves would work for pockets on my pillows, I gave that designer mental thanks and snipped them right off.

Doesn't it all look pretty when you stack it up?

This is where the cats come in.  While I pressed everything and stitched the embellishments down (layer by layer so as not to accidentally stitch your pocket down in the middle without thinking, as has happened to me but not, thankfully, this time) I plotted what I could possibly make to tuck into the pockets.  A small stuffed animal made sense, and what can I say? I like cats.  Probably should have gone for a long skinny shape to fit into the pocket better, but hey.

Yes, I embroidered the face with the sewing machine.  With regular stitch and backstitch, because it's a 1940s Singer without a single bell or whistle.

They are too big to fit into the pockets.  If you make a hugging pillow, you can learn from my mistake.

Back to the pillows. Stitch around most of the circle about as far in as you expect to do your blanket stitching later, leaving a gap big enough to push through stuffing,

 Then turn inside out, press if compulsive, and stuff:

 After that, it's all over but the blanket stitching.  I ended up using leftover sock yarn with a gradual colour change (Noro Silk Garden, if you're a knitter) to get a good match for the stripes on the pocket side.  And I stitched a little more than half of the circle before tucking in the pillow, to make it easier to get the sides to line up well.

I think all I need to make these a perfect gift is chocolate and a good book, don't you?

Hope your Valentine's Day has hugs in it!