Purse Organizers

You know how I like all kinds of crafty things and love finding cute and simple patterns. Well, my friend, Tina Sanderson, found this pattern on the internet for purse organizers. I was very impressed with them and thought what cute gifts they would make. So, I wanted to make my friend, Katherine Lancina, one before I went down for Thanksgiving. I found some left over fabric from a quilting project, but did not have the iron-on interfacing I would need. Therefore, instead of making one for Katherine before I went, I just took my machine down to her house and worked on it there...but, I'd picked up the wonder under fuseable fabric instead of the interfacing, so the first attempt was a bust !! Ran back to the fabric store and got the right supplies. Whipped Katherine's up real quick and she loved it !!
But, I want to be clear in saying this is not my original pattern, it is adapted from the one Tina found on the internet.
Once I made Katherine's I got inspired to make up some more - I had lots of friends I thought would like them !! The fabric swatches you see above are from the ones I made for my friends. You can come up with some really fun fabric matches - you just need two coordinating pieces - I liked using a light and a dark. I think the floral pink one is really cute ! (that one went to Tina).

This is very simply made -- two strips of fabric cut 10 x 26. You then iron on the interfacing to the wrong sides of each strip. I found that the stiffer interfacing works best. Once you have the interfacing on, put the two pieces right sides together (with a piece of ribbon in position to hold keys) and stitch them up - leaving a spot to turn them...Then you flip up one edge to make the "pockets"(the pockets are in the "paisley" print in the above picture). When I was making up the ones for gifts, my friend, Jackie Mildenberger, came over and she helped me by ironing on the interfacings and turning them inside out !! That was a tremendous time saver, as all in all, after that first one for Katherine that I'd already made and then 2 more for my sister and niece, Jackie and I made up 11 more of these little buggers !!

This is my personal piece -- you can see my stuff all lined up ready to "install". You can barely see it, but on the top right corner there is a little piece of black ribbon that is doubled over (which was sewn into the seam when the fabric pieces are sewn together - double stitch over that spot with the ribbon to make it strong). From here there will be a "carbiner" hook thing-a-ma-bob from which I can hook my keys. All the ones I did for gifts got this hook, but I ran out of them when it came to mine...but, you get the idea ! Just make your little ribbon ring really short, because once the hook hangs on there it gets a little longer...

All the stuff "stuffed" in and ready to go...

You can see in the above picture how the "pokets" are stitched. Once it is filled, you can circle it around like this to fit in your purse.

Now here it is installed into my purse. That's my wallet showing in the middle of it - the organizer is just circled around my wallet. I didn't think I'd be real crazy about this myself, but once I got it all together with my stuff, I LOVE IT !!! The tricky part is making the "pockets" for it..you almost have to lay out your stuff and decide how wide to make each pocket. But, it's the perfect organizer -- when you change purses, just lift it out complete with all your stuff and insert it into your new purse !! What a super idea -- thanks, Tina, for sharing this !! And, thanks to whomever it was that made that original posting and shared their site !