Wall Tidy Dilemma!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

With the weather lingering at freezing temperatures I could not face going out so I thought I would make a much needed wall tidy. In my bedroom I have a shelf which is crammed full of hair products, hair brushes, hair grips - basically the hair offering from Boots on a shelf that is about a a foot long by a quarter foot wide. This drives both my husbandy and I nuts so thought a wall tidy would do the trick.

Tools for the job

So with a fabric delivery of a whole host of yummy material on Friday  I selected one to be the background (being green with cream spots) and popped to Ray Stitch (love this shop) to get a half a metre of plain cream  cotton to be the pockets. With all the ingredients ready I was good to get stitching.

I didn't follow any pattern.... I just measured where I wanted it to go (being 12inch x 25inch) and added an extra couple of inches and cut the spotty fabric. The reason I added the inches is because you will need to hem and mitre the fabric and as I've learnt by doing corners this way it will use more fabric. I decided I needed one large pocket at the top for my hairbrushes and a smaller one for my grips and bits. I measured the cream fabric to 10inch x 14inch for the large pocket and 10inch x 9 inch for the smaller one.

Hemming

I hemmed and mitred all three pieces of fabric (check out my blog Mitered Corners and Headscarf Success! to show how this is done) and then went to pin the pockets onto the fabric. This is when my idea went wrong.... I had made the pockets too big and could not work out how to attach them. This is really hard to explain but tip: always research what you are going to make! I have only been stitching for two months and although I was pleased I felt confident enough to venture forth on my own, I was sadly mistaken and my stitching heaven soon turned into an unpicking hell. I just could not fathom out how to do this so I went onto 'You Tube' and searched 'wall tidy sewing'. After a couple of attempts of following other tutorials I stumbled across one by Sewing Republic called 'Closet Organizer' (link below):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLKu-ukprgA&list=PLG-EZUMWlx6fdibG2Hm2GfnmUC6t9VBNF&index=4

This link basically saved my bacon and after a few minor alterations to the pocket pieces, I pinned the pocket fabric onto the backing piece and sewed together to make my finished wall tidy! All I need to do now is purchase the Prym eyelets and washers plus a couple of suction hooks and this little beauty will be good to go!

Finished wall tidy

All in all I have learnt a few lessons today. I never realised I had so much patience and my new journey of sewing is finding out new things about me. I wonder what other talents and traits it will unearth....

Hint and tips

• Equipment: Iron, cutting board, metal ruler, rotary cutter, fabric scissors, tape measure, fabric, pins, tailors chalk, thread and a sewing machine
• Sewing pattern or tutorial - this will save you a lot of stress - especially as you are new to the sewing world. I will not venture forth without one again - or definitely not in the near future
• Patience - Again, I mention this every time but as I'm setting out on this adventure I can't stress it enough!
• When doing mitred corners don't forget to make your project slightly larger to allow for the  hem.

Enjoy and take your time!

Happy Stitching x