1. Tree Pedestal Cake Stand at Once Wed
2. Cardigan with a Twist at Happy Together
3. Little Pink House Tutorial at Sew Mama Sew
4. DIY Floral Printed Shades at Throw it in the Bag
5. Land of Nod Inspired Cushion at Living with Punks
6. Painted Parasol at Alisa Burke

I ordered some of that cool chalkboard fabric quite awhile ago with the intention of making gifts for some small people that I know. My nieces already had one of these roll-up chalk mats and I think they got some good mileage out of it in entertaining themselves at restaurants and other places on the go, so I thought I’d try to reconstruct that as a gift for others.

What you’ll need:
15″ x 11″ piece of chalk fabric
15″ x 11″ piece of backing fabric
5″ x 4″ piece of pocket fabric
60″ x 2″ strip of edging fabric (in two or more pieces if needed)
2 pieces of ribbon, 12″ each

To start, turn under the long edge of the pocket piece and stitch a hem. Then fold it in half right sides together and sew the short edge closed, as shown below.

To stitch together the edging pieces, lay the ends out so the strips are perpendicular to each other with right sides together and stitch across at an angle. When the strips are turned right side up, they should now form one long strip with a diagonal seam.

Next, lay out the piece of backing fabric and the chalk fabric, wrong sides together. Now you’re going to sew binding around these pieces – ways to do this are illustrated here and here much better than I can do. As these demonstrate, there are various ways to do binding, but basically what I did is to sew the edging strips to the chalk mat side, 1/4 inch from the edge with right sides together. As you start sewing the binding, fold over the end towards the wrong side so the raw edge will be hidden. When you get to the corners, treat them as you would a quilt with a mitered corner (show in both of the tutorial links above).

When you get to the short side of the rectangle, slide the raw edge of the pocket piece between the binding and the chalk fabric and capture it as you stitch along the edge.

And this is what it looks like when you’re done with all four sides….

Lastly, turn the raw edge of the binding under 1/4 inch and then fold the binding in half, rolling it over to the the side with the backing fabric. Pin in place. On the short edge of the rectangle (opposite the side you have added the pocket) pin the ribbon pieces between the binding and the backing fabric. Topstitch along the edge through all the layers of fabric, around all four sides

Add some chalk and a small square of fabric to use as an eraser (which can both be stored in the pocket), and you’ve got your chalk mat!

1. Summer Scarf by made
2. Ruffle Pillow by tidy tipsy photography
3. Ruffle Tank Top by Love Stitched
4. Jewelry Holder by tada creations
5. Fabric Bowl by craftstylish
6. Alice Dress by Little Red Roost

1. Paper Garland at Hambly Screen Prints
2. Scrappy Clutch at From an Igloo
3. Pot holder make-up case by Obsessively Stitching
4. Flower Brooch by Not Martha
5. Soft baby shoe tutorial by Family Centred Life
6. Summery sun hat by Prudent Baby

1. Tiered Cake Stand by Giver’s log
2. Ruffle Shirt by Tea Rose Home
3. Spring Rings by Miss Priss
4. Vintage Book Planner by Just Something I made
5. Modern Outdoor Planter at Apartment Therapy
6. T-Shirt Shrug at Lu Bird Baby

Right before we left on our trip to Costa Rica, I decided to whip up an organizer case to keep all our travel documents in. I hate rooting around in the bottom of my purse for important pieces of paper, or even worse, not remembering where I stuck my passport after the last time I used it. So I thought if everything was in one place it would make things easier. After looking around on the internet for some instructions, I came up empty handed. I did see a few types of organizers that were about what I was looking for and I thought I could puzzle out how to construct something close. This is what I came up with, and I thought I’d document it in case anyone else is looking for something similar. The instructions for the zippers are a little but tricky, but hopefully you can follow the steps that I took without too much confusion.

You’ll need three different types of fabric, cut into the following sized pieces:

Fabric A
10 x 12
4 pieces of 6 x 5

Fabric B
2 pieces of  6 x 10
6 x 8
6 x3

Fabric C
10 x 12
2 pieces of 6 x 5
6 x 3
6 x 10

2 6-inch zippers

Take one of the 6×5 pieces of Fabric A and the 6×8 piece of Fabric B and hem the top edge of both. These will be the left hand pockets.

Lay these two pocket pieces on top of the 6×10 piece of Fabric C, then lay the 6×10 piece of Fabric B on top of all that like a sandwich, right sides together. Stitch along the right hand side, through all the layers, 1/4 inch from the edge. Flip the top piece underneath so the wrong sides are together, and press the seam flat.

Top stitch the edge of this whole side pocket along the right side, 1/4 inch from the edge.  This is the completed left side of the organizer. You can repeat this for the right side if you’re not comfortable sewing zippers, but I think its nice to have a few zippered pockets to keep change and other things in securely.

So for the left side, start by taking one of the 6×5 pieces of Fabric A and one of the 6×5 pieces of Fabric C as the lining. With right sides together, place one of your zippers in between the two fabrics and stitch the top edge with a zipper foot on your machine. Flip the front and inside pieces down to reveal the zipper and top stitch along the zipper edge.

Repeat the same for the second zipper, using the 6×3 piece of Fabric B and a 6×5 piece of Fabric A as the lining.

To complete the top zipper pocket, take the smallest 6×3 piece of Fabric C and one more 6×5 piece of Fabric A (which will be the other pocket lining piece) and sandwich them, right sides together, along the top of the second zipper that you have already sewn to the pieces of Fabric B and A. After sewing through the fabric and zipper, flip the Fabric C piece up, and top stitch over the edge next to the zipper (keeping the lining Fabric A down to line up with the other Fabric A).

Now repeat this for the bottom pocket by taking the bottom zipper piece previously completed and placing the last 6×5 Fabric C piece, right side up, underneath with the top edge lined up with the top edge of the zipper. Then take the piece you just finished sewing with the second zipper pocket and place it on top, upside down and right sides facing, so that the bottom remaining raw edge of the Fabric B lines up with the top edge of the zipper.  Stitch along the edge of this zipper sandwich, flip the top pocket piece up and top stitch along the top edge next to the zipper.

To complete the two zipper pockets, stitch the underneath lining pieces together into a square for each, being careful to only stitch through the lining layers, not the top layers.

Next, take the last 6×10 piece of Fabric B and lay it on top of the whole zipper pocket piece, right sides together. Stitch 1/4 inch from the left side, flip the Fabric B lining piece so wrong sides are together and top stitch along the left edge through all layers. Be careful not to catch your zipper teeth in your machine while you’re doing this step.

These are the two completed sides of the organizer.

You may have to square them both up so all the corners are even at this point (or at least square them up as much as you can – mine’s a bit wonky still but it all turned out in the end).

Now take the 10×12 piece of Fabric C and the 10×12 piece of Fabric A. Lay out the piece of Fabric C face up and lay the two pocket sides on top of this, also face up, with the edges and corners lined up. Lay your elastic piece on top of this, lengthwise along the right side, about an inch and a half from the edge. Lay the Fabric A piece on top of all this, right side down. Pin in place. Stitch around all four edges, leaving a small gap to turn it right side out. After turning the whole piece right side out, press the edges and top stitch around all four sides, closing the gap as you stitch over it. Again, be careful when stitching over the zipper ends on the right hand side, and don’t catch the elastic in your top stitching either.

And your travel organizer is now complete! Congratulations!

1. Circular vest at threads magazine
2. felt circle pillow at presser foot
3. Turn a bookcase into a bar at apartment therapy
4. pintuck t-shirt at craftstylish
5. Simple fabric scarf/shawl at pretty ditty
6. Rewired and repainted lamp at craft stylish

And it turned out so well that I thought I’d share with you how to make your own!

What you’ll need is:
One twelve inch square and one nine inch square each of two different fabrics
One of each same sized muslin or pattern paper
Two pieces of 18 inch ribbon

To start, measure your pattern circles. You could do this directly onto your main fabrics, but I felt better having a template to work from. Fold the square into a triangle, and then fold over on itself two more times. Using a measuring tape, mark out a 6 inch arc from the tip of your triangle. This will give you a 12 inch circle.

Cut along the arc you’ve drawn and then unfold into a circle. Repeat with the 9 inch circle, marking your arc at 4.5 inches from the point.

Now you have two circles!

Next use your pattern circles to cut one of each from your two fabrics. This is what you’ll have:

With the outside fabric, sew a button hole about an inch and a half from the edge. Sew a second button hole directly opposite on the other side of the circle. These will be where you thread the ribbon through to gather the pouch at the end.

With right sides of the two large circles together, stitch them together 1/4 inch from the edge, leaving a one inch gap to turn it right side out. I top stitched around the edge after I turned it right side out, but that’s optional. You could just slip stitch the gap closed. Repeat for the smaller circle.

Now we make the casing. Stitch all the way around the larger circle about 1 inch from the edge. Then stitch around again, about 1/4 inch from your first round. Make sure your button holes are between your casing lines.

With the two circles lined up together with lining fabrics facing each other, mark the very centre of your circles and sew a three inch circle around the middle through both layers. Leave a small hole to put some stuffing between the two layers. This will be the bottom of the pouch and gives it some structure to sit on. Once its stuffed, sew the gap closed, so it looks like this:

Divide your circle up with four “spokes” which will make your eight pockets and stitch along these spokes (but not all the way through the middle), through both layers.

Then, using a safety pin as a guide, thread your first ribbon through your button hole and pull it around and out the other button hole. Do the same on the other side. Knot the ends of the ribbons together on each side and pull them to gather it closed.

And you’re done! Hopefully that all makes sense, but if anything needs clarifying let me know!

1. puff pouch at pink penguin

2. Ruffle Tshirt Remake by made by lex

3. beaded fabric flower necklace at pretty ditty

4. embroidered ribbon sleeve at the long thread

5. Felt Flower Winter Wreath at the purl bee

6. DIY pinwheel at style me pretty

1. Pinecone Elves – Martha Stewart
2. Printable Advent – How About Orange
3. Recycled Magazine Gift Bows – Craftster
4. Countdown Calender – Maya Made
5. Gingerbread man Ornament – elsie marley
6. Felt Ornaments – Fantastic Toys