Purse Organizer

I found a great video on YouTube (I'll post the link below) that demonstrated sewing a cool purse organizer out of recycled clothing.  I used a huge jean dress I got from Salvation Army (it was about 25 cents - $2.00 a bag), and a huge sun dress from Goodwill (25 cents).  I cut two strips (look at the video for exact directions), as well as a strip of batting to pad the pockets.  I figured out which items I wanted in my organizer (phone, gps, brush, pens, notepad, etc, and marked the size.  A hint - make them bigger than you think you'll need unless it's a flat item.  I also sewed a jean pocket onto the back for extra storage. My sewing machine is still a very sad affair, but I managed to coax it into sewing it all together.

Sorry for the crude presentation - the pictures could have been better, but you get the idea.  I just curl the organizer around and it leaves room in the middle for my wallet.  Now I won't be so reluctant to change purses because of the chaos.  I'm happy with my first attempt and learned a lot:

1.  Make pockets wider for larger items.  Even pens need a wider pocket than you'd think.
2.  Follow Jennifer's directions and you'll have success  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_-uDs9cYKg
3.  If your sewing machine is old, have lots of heavy duty needles on hand.  I broke two.  But then again, it      could be me.
4.  Hide your cats because they will have a party in the fabric, making it quite a challenge to sew, cut and iron.

I'm going to try this organizer out and get new ideas for the next one.  I plan on making an organizer for my keyboard and band stuff, as well as a backpack organizer for my girlies.  Today is a good day.