Hang on, here's a notion: Upcycled Notions Organiser

My sewing area is a mess. It doesn't help it's in the smallest room in the house which is used to store all of our "stuff". Being a small room there's not much space to store things and storage is the one thing I need for all my notions - snaps, velcro, zips, elastic and other random bits.

Whilst perusing the interweb I found this great tutorial from the Make It Love It blog for making a hanging notion organiser http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/08/hanging-jewelry-holder-space-saver.html. Being a tight arse this was right up my alley as forking out $40 for one of these at the shops is not an option.

Being a tight arse I also began thinking about what I had around me that I could reuse for this project. I found an old plastic storage bag the type that blankets/doonas/quilts are sold in. I had planned to cut this up and use it as the tutorial suggested and then decided that I could save myself some time and effort...and so I created my own hanging notions organiser.

Here's how I made it:

1. This bag had originally had a zipper at the top so that was cut off.
2. Next I took a pencil and drew a grid for the pockets. These ones are roughly 3.5inches square, but I think next time I will do as the Make It, Love It tutorial and have some small and some big. This size is the smallest that I would do, and then I'd go bigger.
3. The next step is to add the tabs. Take a couple of strips of either the plastic or material and fold them in half and attach them to the top of the bag. These will be used to hang them.
4. Now, using an overlock stitch or zig zag stitch, sew along the gridlines. These will make your pockets.
5. Once your gridlines are sewn it's time to make the pocket openings. Carefully separate the top from the back and gently cut a slit at the top of each pocket. I found it easiest making a tiny snip and then using my seam ripper to enlarge the hole.
6. That's it. Your notions organiser is ready to hang and fill.

I plan to add to this by attaching more bags to the bottom and I have an alternative method for storing long lengths of elastic and velcro...but that's for another post.