How to Make a Fold and Go Organizer.
I know I know… this is a food blog. But, we can whisk together a sewing project or two also! I’ve been sewing off and on for 10 years from my wedding dress to quilts to Halloween costumes. I have tried to add as much detail as possible for each step. Thirty One Gifts sells one based on the same idea as a Fold and Go Organizer for $24 which includes a notepad. This one does not include a notepad, but you could make it for about $5-10 in fabric and ribbon. I use it for stuffing my coupons, holding my pens and writing down my grocery list. Kids could use it to store crayons and pencils and draw on a notepad that can be inserted. Good luck and have fun!
Fold and Go Organizer
yield 1 🙂
Ingredients:
1 piece of fabric for the cover (outside) – 8″x19″
1 piece of fabric for the lining – 8″x19″
1 piece of iron-on interfacing – 8″x19″
1 piece of fabric for the pocket – 9″x19″
1 piece of ribbon – 36″
Directions:
1. Cut all of your pieces. I had already ironed on the interfacing, so it was not in this photo.
For my example, the pink polka dot is the lining, the flower fabric is the cover and the dark/medium pink is the pocket.
2. Iron on the interfacing to the lining.
3. Fold the pocket in half with right side facing out. Press.
4. Top stitch along the folded edge 1/4″
5. Place the folded pocket over the lining (right side up).
6. Pin the pocket to the lining.
7. Draw lines using a fabric pencil, or if you don’t have one like me, use Scotch tape to mark your sewing lines. Starting from the left and working over to the right, measure: 4.75″, 1″, 1″, 1″, 1″, 4.75″. This will give you 4 sections (3 large and 1 with pencil holders). If you want three sections instead of 4, simply use whatever measurements you need. Pens, crayons and pencils fit nicely into the 1″ sections.
Draw these only on the pocket as you will be sewing up to the topstitch you made earlier.
8. Sew up to the top of the pocket stitch. Remember to backstitch a few stitches after each line in order to secure the pocket.
9. Fold the ribbon in half and pin the middle of the ribbon securely to the middle of the edge of the organizer. This usually is the top edge of the pocket as shown here. Make sure the ribbon stays on the right side of the fabric and in the middle while completing the steps below.
10. Place the cover right sides together on top of the pocket/lining that you just sewed. Pin them together.
11. Sew the pieces together with a 1/4″ seam and make sure to leave a 3″ gap or hole. This 3″ gap is where you will be able to turn your organizer inside-out.
12. Here is my gap now that I have sewn around the organizer.
13. Turn the organizer right side out. Press flat. Pay attention to pressing the gap that will be sewn shut later. All three layers need to be sure to be caught in the topstitching.
14. Topstitch around the entire organizer and there you go!
[…] Together shows you how to make a fold and go organizer. This would be perfect for organizing your coupons and grocery list to keep in your purse. Do you […]
I love it! My seven year old loves to have pen and paper in the car when we drive 3 hours to grandma’s. I think I am going to make him this for Christmas. Thanks for the great idea!
I noticed that our Walmart carries a lot of character fabric. If your seven year old likes Cars 2 or Tangled or something, that would make a great outside. I think people might have gotten mad when they removed the fabric section from Walmart because now there is a whole aisle of it again!
Very nice! I’ll have to try this sometime.
[…] honor of having my Fold and Go Organizer on Money Saving Mom, here is another step by step craft. Crayon rolls are rather inexpensive to […]
I do this using a placemat instead of separate pieces of fabric. You can see the pocket divider lines on the outside, but it makes the whole project a few steps simpler. 🙂
I want to make one but don’t have a sewing machine. Wonder how hard it would be without and not very experienced sewer/stitcher at that but looking at this and the one on 31gifts I’d like to make my own but I’m scared.. Silly? Yeah probably.
One of the commenters said that she uses a placemat to make these. So that is over half the sewing done for you. You could also make it into 3 sections instead of 4 which is less sewing and closer to the 31 Gifts organizer. I think using the placemat idea would be very doable without a sewing machine.
Awesome tutorial, Mary Ellen!! These would be great to make for the kids, for those trips to town.
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I am contemplating making a Bible Cover for my daughter and I am thinking from looking at your pictures that the organizer side could be on the outside of the cover as she likes pockets for notebook, pencil, etc… Do you think this could be adapted to this purpose?
Wow! Great idea for an adaptation! Maybe put elastic about two inches in to use to hold it to the Bible.You could slide the cover right into the elastic.
Reblogged this on Sarah and commented:
Whisk Together has great step-by-step instructions for a fold-and-go organizer. I made one and LOVE IT!
I just made my own organizer! Thank you very much for this wonderful tutorial!