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.

Dangly Heart Hat from a Sweater

While browsing Pinterest, I saw a knitted hat with a dangly heart and fell in love with it.  After wearing my thinking cap for a while, I came up with a way to make my own version using a sweater.  I hope you'll give this a try.  All you need is a sweater, a sewing machine and a scrap of fabric or fleece in a coordinating color, plus a small piece of ribbon or cord.

Choose a sweater made of cotton or acrylic.  These sweaters will not unravel easily and you can cut and sew them much like fabric.  One of the sweaters I chose was an almost new Tommy Hilfiger in a fun primary color stripe.
 
I cut the front along the side seams and about 12 inches up creating a square with a finished edge from the bottom of the sweater.

I folded the square in half and rounded the top.  You may need to adjust the width to the circumference of your child's head.  My sweater was 14 inches wide which is perfect for a baby.

From a piece of fleece I cut two heart shapes and sewed them together, inserting a cord at the top  (coil the end inside the heart while you sew).  Leave one side open about one inch for turning.  Snip the heart shape at the V of the heart before turning so that it doesn't bunch.  After turning, stuff with a small amount of fiberfill or even cotton balls.  Hand sew the opening.

Place the heart inside the folded hat piece, placing the other end of the cord at the top of the hat.  You will sew it in place while you sew the hat.  Sew up one side and across the top.  ZigZag the edges.
Turn the hat and tack the seam flat near the open edge.  Tah dah!  Dangly heart hat!

Below are photos of the finished hat plus another hat I made using the same technique.  On the second hat I added a button to the heart and used ribbon instead of cord.