Make a Clutter Keeper for your Purse, Car or Diaper Bag

closed clutter keeper  about 5" by 9"

This one is more for moms and grandmoms of bundles and kiddles.

Open clutter keeper

I'm sure you will understand when I say I have way too much clutter in my purse!  I had been carrying around a zipper bag in my purse full of things I just might need: pins, floss, nail polish, allergy meds... you get the idea.

Thinking for months about making a bag that would hold it all and make it easy to access, plus easy to see, led me to this idea which I am calling the Clutter Keeper.

I made mine using the following supplies:

• 10" by 15" pieces of coordinating fabric and batting
• pony tail holder (you could use a 6 inch piece of elastic)
• 6 heavy duty zip top plastic bags  (mine measured 6" by 6.5")
• 10" piece of ribbon
• 2 buttons

Here are the steps,

1. Place fabric right sides together.  Place on top of the batting and sew a 1/2 seam around all edges, adding the elastic at the middle of one end, leaving an opening of about 3 inches to turn.

See the next few photos for illustrations.

2.  Trim corners and turn, iron and close opening by hand or machine stitch.



3.  Add trim if desired (I didn't add any to my clutter keeper).

4.  Place 3 bags one direction and 3 bags the other, overlapping in the center.  (You will cut the excess bottoms away later. )  Pin in place so they don't slip.

5.  Place ribbon over the overlap area of the bags.  Stitch along the sides of the ribbon, trimming the ends to suit your style.  Cut away the bag bottoms (3 on each side).

6.  Load up your clutter keeper, fold and mark the location of the button where the elastic will have a slight pull to keep it closed.  Leave some room for stretching and adding more items later!

7.  Sew both buttons on at the same time, the decorative one on top and the other on the inside. This will add strength.  Don't sew them so tight that the elastic can't slip over the button.  I like to wrap the thread around the stitches under the button a few times to raise the button and give extra strength to the stitches before knotting the thread off.

8.  Show off your new clutter keeper and make some for friends!





What could you put in your clutter keeper?  Here are some ideas.  I'd love to hear yours!

 rubber bands, paper clips

safety pins

extra pencil lead, pens and pencils, erasers

spare keys

'mad money'

emergency phone numbers

cards that don't fit in your wallet

receipts

wrapped candy/snacks

cotton balls

bandaids

medicine

wipes

floss

comb

tape measure

small notepad

nail care items

lotion

FYI: I bought the clear bags through U-Line shipping supplies because all of the bags I could find at the store had brand names on them.  If you plan to make a lot of these, U Line sells boxes of 100.