Fridge Pocket for Small Storage Items

Hi Idea Room readers – it’s Becky from the Clean Mama blog and Clean Mama Printables.  Today’s Organizational Tip is to make a Fridge Pocket to hold pens, a small notepad,  and anything else you need to keep handy in the kitchen.  I needed a little something to store pens and such on the side of the fridge.  I looked through my fabric stash and found some leftover oilcloth – perfect!  
 
 You could easily use regular fabric that was heavily starched or with some fusible webbing with similar results. 
 
I simply started with two pieces of oilcloth – one cut to about 16 inches x 6 inches and one cut to 10 inches x 4 inches (these dimensions can be changed to accommodate your own pocket and how much or how little you want to store in them). 
 
 
 
Then I folded the smaller piece of oilcloth in half (with the wrong side out) and stitched along the bottom of each piece of oilcloth – like this.  Word to the wise – oilcloth is MUCH thicker than regular fabric, so tread slowly and carefully with your sewing machine.
 
 
 
 
Then I stitched all the way up one side and a little over half way up the other side – like a pillow.
 
 

Carefully turn it right side out and fold in the side that didn’t get stitched up – you should hand stitch this closed, but I opted for pinning and holding it together until I sewed it on the larger piece.
 
 
 
Position the pocket onto the larger piece of fabric and sew down the bottom and sides, leaving the the top open for your pens and such.  (This picture is before I sewed it down.)
 
 
 
 
Turn the larger piece inside out and stitch along the bottom edge like this.
 
 
 
 
I then turned the piece right-side out, folded the seams in and stitched up both sides – probably not proper stitchery, but it worked for me.
 
 
 
 
Once the sides were stitched up, I attached a 4 x 6 inch  magnet sticker to the back.
 
 
 
 
 
 
And now I have this handy little fridge friend/pocket to keep these little tools close by.
 

 
Need a step-by-step tutorial?  Go here to get this printable.  Enjoy!
 
 


 

 

Fabric Interfacing with Silhouette—Monogrammed Hand Towels

 

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I recently received some of the new ”Sewable” Fabric Interfacing from Silhouette America to test out in my Silhouette Machine.  I have been wanting to make some Monogrammed Hand Towels since making this stenciled hand towel for Valentine’s Day.  I was initially planning on stenciling them but immediately changed my mind when the sewable fabric interfacing arrived.  This project literally took me about 15 minutes to complete and I had all the products already on hand…Love it when that happens!

 

It was a really easy process.  First I simply made an “H” in my Silhouette program using Times New Roman font, 4 inches tall.

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Then I took a large rectangle of some black and white polka dot fabric that I had left-over from another projects {found at JoAnn’s a couple of years ago}, and ironed it directly onto the fabric interfacing {on the opposite side of the paper}.  Make sure the right side of your fabric is facing up.

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Then I took my scissors and cut out around the material and folded up the unused fabric interfacing and saved it for future projects.

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Peel away the paper layer from the back of the material.

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Then for the best part.  Cut out your fabric with your Silhouette Machine.  This is seriously so awesome!  I think it has to be one of my favorite features of the Silhouette America machine.

 

To cut the fabric, simply place the fabric and the interfacing onto the Silhouette cutting mat.  I cut mine with settings at a speed of 3 and a thickness of 33 and it  cut the fabric perfectly!  Oh man!  I LOVE this feature!  Where was this when I was cutting all those circles for The Heartfelt Wreath??

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Simply peel away the outside fabric so that you are left with your letter.

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Carefully peel your letter from the Silhouette Mat.  Then I took a white hand towel that I found in a two Pack from Wal-Mart.  I folded the hand towel in half lengthwise so that I would know where the exact middle of the towel was.  Then I gently folded my letter in half and placed it on the lower half of the towel to get a good centered placement.

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Hold your letter carefully in place and unfold your towel and you should have a good centered placement of your monogrammed letter.  Iron the letter into place on the towel.  This is a temporary hold so that you can sew it into place.

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I sewed around all of the edges with some white thread so that the stitching would stand out a bit and made sure to back stitch to keep it on the towel permanently and securely. 

 

And that is it!  Super simple right?  If you don’t sew on a sewing machine, this would be just as easy to do with some simple hand stitching!  And if you don’t have a silhouette machine, you could simply stencil them with fabric paint or cut out your own letter by tracing onto your fabric and cutting it out with a pair of scissors.  Because it is one letter it shouldn’t be too difficult or time consuming.  These would be great wedding, shower, Christmas or even birthday gifts! 

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I like them so much I want to make one for the kitchen and some other bathrooms…and why not all my friends.  This project cost me a total of $1.25…or the price on one hand towel…Not too bad…ehhh?

 

And guess what?  As a Silhouette affiliate I am able to offer my readers a special promotion good only this week, March 21-27th! What is this great deal? Use the promo code IDEAROOM at checkout when you purchase a Silhouette SD, you will also receive one package of each fabric interfacing (clean cut & sewable) and a roll of white flocked heat transfer material for only $229. If you already have a Silhouette, use the promo code IDEAROOM at checkout to receive a 25% discount on fabric interfacing.  But hurry it is only good through March 27th. Silhouette Electronic Cutting Tool

 Click on button if you are interested in this promotion and it will take you right to Silhouette’s site.

 

 **I did not get paid any compensation for this post. I did however receive some Sewable Fabric Interfacing to keep for my own and review.  All opinions are mine and mine alone.

DIY Stuffed Animal Easter Baskets

 DIY Easter Basket
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Easter is quickly approaching and will be here before we know it. At our house we set out our Easter Baskets with a plate of carrots for the Easter Bunny to snack on during his visit. He then hides the baskets full of small goodies for each child to find the following morning.

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Each child has their own basket. This year I thought it would be fun to repurpose some old stuffed animals and make them into Easter Baskets. We had this duck laying around just adding to our playroom clutter. I gave him a little makeover. You can too by following these simple directions.

You will need:
Medium to Large stuffed animal with a large belly
1/4 yard fabric (more or less depending on the size of the animal)
1/4 yard Fusible Interfacing (I used heavier weight)
needle and thread
bias tape (optional–I used a strip of fabric)
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Take some scissors and cut a line up the middle of the animal’s belly. Remove the stuffing from the middle, but leave the stuffing in the head, arms and legs. Then cut a nice, round opening for the basket.
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Then take your pattern, which can be downloaded here, and cut out 6-8 pieces (depending on the size of your animal) along with 1 circle from your fabric. You will also need to cut the same amount of pieces of the fusible interfacing using the same pattern pieces.
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Iron the fusible interfacing onto the wrong side of each piece of cut fabric. Then sew all the pieces together on your sewing machine using a 5/8 inch seam allowance with the right sides of the fabric together.
**Be sure to sew the pieces so that the smaller ends of the sides are facing the same direction.
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When all the sides are sewn together (but before you sew it into a circle), place the material inside the hole in the belly and see if you need to add any more side pieces. I needed 8 sides to make a basket that fit into the hole. If you need less than 8, you may need to re-size the bottom circle pattern to fit correctly.
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Once you have the correct size, sew the two ends together to form a circle. Now take you circle and pin it to the bottom of the sides to make the bottom of your basket. Sew (5/8 inch) seam around the bottom. Turn right side out and place into the hole. If it is too tall, you can cut it down to size but make sure to sew along the top again to reinforce your seams. If it is not deep enough, add some of the stuffing you removed into the bottom of the hole until it fits well.
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Take a needle and thread and sew around the top of the basket attaching it to the stuffed animal. You can use your machine if you can fit it in there. My stuffed animal was too bulky for that.
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Now, take some bias tape or a strip of material to sew around the top edge of the basket.
**I took a strip of the same fabric measuring 26 inches by 1.75 inches. Iron the strip and then iron the right and left edges so that they are folded inward on each side 1/4 inch. Then fold together lengthwise so that the edges are inside and the right side of the material is on the outside with no frayed ends showing. Iron flat.

Take your strip (or bias tape) and sew it onto the top edge of the basket placing the fold directly on the top. I did this by hand as well.
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Next, is the handle. You can make the handle as long as you would like. I cut a strip of material measuring 4 inches by 16.5 inches. I also cut a strip of fusible interfacing that measured the same 16.5 inches in length but only 1 inch wide. Iron this strip the same way you would for making the “bias tape” above. Wrap your fabric around the interfacing so that the seams overlap on the bottom side of the handle. Iron together. Sew a seam down the entire length of the handle to secure the fabric.
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All that is left now is to attach the handle to the inside of the basket with a needle and thread!
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The whole process took me just over an hour during nap time one day! I love how it turned out and my girls did too! Unfortunately I only have one…Guess I need to head on over to the thrift store and find me two more suitable stuffed animals!

 
**Download pattern here.

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