The In-the-Pockets Organiser
Well, hello! It’s a while since I blogged about one of my patterns.
We are in the countdown to the festive season now, so my thoughts are firmly focused on projects that make good gifts for friends and family, as well as being useful for ourselves! So the last couple of patterns and the next couple too are items I could see myself making up to give away. So far I have made up this latest pattern three times! Read on to find out more.
The inspiration behind this pattern was my highly-disorganised, growing collection of sewing machine feet. For years I just used the basic feet that came with my sewing machine. When I started doing patchwork, a few years ago, I was advised to get a 1/4” machine foot. What a game-changer that was! Instead of concentrating on the guide-lines on the machine, I could just guide the fabric against the flat lip of the foot, and whiz along knowing that I was stitching accurately. The 1/4” foot was the first of many, of course. I bought Teflon feet to sew with leather, piping feet, edge-stitch feet; the list goes on, ha ha ha! I have around twenty, and they have all been used at least once. I keep a couple in my Keep-It-Close Organiser, on the chair next to my machine, but the rest were in a plastic tub in a drawer, which meant sorting through every time I tried to find a specific foot. Not any more! I made one of my organisers in sewing-themed fabric, to match my machine cover, Hexi-Caddy, and Keep-It-Close, and now I am a bit more organised!
You can see from the photos that the pockets are made using a clear plastic fabric. We all know that single-use plastic can be problematic, but when you know something is going to be used over and over, the special properties of plastic can be hard to beat. In the case of this organiser, being able to see the contents is what makes it really useful. To sew the plastic, it is essential to use a sharp, new needle, and to increase your stitch length so as not to weaken the seam with too many perforation-like holes. The edges of each pocket here are bound, and any back-stitching that you need to do is positioned on the binding, to protect the plastic. In the pattern, I use a paper tape over the plastic, which makes all of the stitching lines easy to mark, and also means you can stitch using a standard sewing-machine foot. You could use a walking foot, but test it first to make sure that it doesn’t mark the plastic in any way. Oh, and don’t use an iron!
The binding for this organiser is a quilt-style binding. To download a copy of my free masterclass, click here.
My second organiser has been used to hold jewellery. I do appreciate that not everyone has a huge collection of sewing machine feet! A jewellery organiser can make a lovely gift. It would be easy to change the width of the pockets to fit something specific, too. I love the idea that people will use my pattern as a starting point, and have a bit of fun adapting it to suit their ideas! If you have made up this, or any other of my patterns, let me know via Facebook or Instagram, and I will share your photos on my page. Use the hashtag #HazelAPatterns to be seen!
