Easy to make DIY Purse Organizer!

I had gone to Walmart the other day with the hubby in tow to pick up a few things.  Unfortunately, when I get in the craft section, a few things quickly becomes a lot of things.  I mean, how can you pass up a sale on yarn and wooden frames?  Some things just have to be purchased.  So I ended up with full arms and had to ask the hubby to hold my purse.

You would have thought that I asked him to hold a rabid ferret.  Truth be known, he rather walk across a snake ridden dessert in his bare feet than touch the contents of my purse.  It’s the fear of accidentally touching a feminine product (if you know what I mean).  That and the fact that my purse weighed about half a ton.  (All the better to smack a mugger with, I always say).

So… I figure it might be time to do a bit of organizing.  I grabbed some fabric and a cardboard box and created my own DIY Purse Organizer.  Want to know how?

Pretty cool, right?  Well lets take a look at what we started with…

Ummm… yeah, it wasn’t pretty.  I had things in my purse that I forgot I owned.  In fact, I was wondering where that hot glue gun went!  And the bottle of paint?  I vaguely remember touching up a project on the go.  Not sure where the brush went…

The wallet?  Well it was empty.  Money has a way of just ending up in the bottom of my purse with a dog-eared protein bar and my personal supply of U by Kotex.  And there is my ring!  I had to have it cut off when I broke my finger falling out of a RV.  Totally another story for another time…

Anyway, let’s get this purse organized!

For this project I used:

One small cardboard box (that will fit inside the purse)
Less than a quarter yard of two different fabrics

Start by breaking down the box.  You want to use one of the sides of the box for the bottom of the organizer.  Cut the cardboard to fit nicely inside your purse.

Use the cardboard piece as a template to cut two pieces of fabric (about an inch larger around than the cardboard).  Cut two 3 1/2″ wide strips from a contrasting fabric.  These strips need to be about 12″ longer than the width of your cardboard and will be used to create outside pockets.

Working on the strips (or eventual pockets), fold your fabric over about a 1/4″ and sew a seam to finish the edge.  Do this on both of the long edges of each strip. This will create finished edges on the top and bottom of each strip.

Next, pin the strips down with wrong side of strip facing the right side of one of the large pieces of fabric.  You want to leave about 1/4″ at the outside edge.  (The outside edges will become the top of the pockets).  Pin your strips allowing give for pockets, pinning where you want each pocket to start and end.  If helpful, use a pencil to draw a sewing line for each pocket edge.

Sew vertically for each pocket edge.  See below.

You should now have two strips sewn onto the main fabric with the pockets sewn vertically.

Keep in mind that this will fold with the center becoming the bottom of the organizer.  So, your next seams will be the bottom of your pockets.  Sew along the bottom of the pockets, puckering the fabric at each seam.

Place the other large piece of fabric over top of your creation- right sides together, and sew a 1/4″ seam around three sides, leaving one side edge open.  Trim any extra fabric and turn right-side out.

Slide the cardboard into the open edge and baste the seam closed.

The final touch is to fold the organizer into position and tack the top corners together with needle and thread in order to create a big pocket for you wallet, etc.

Once full, your new organizer should slide right into your purse and make your life that much more organized!  Even the hubby was impressed.  He helped me sort through my pile of stuff and fill it up!  Of course he didn’t realize that those cool little purple packages are actually “feminine supplies”.  Can you imagine the look of horror on his face when he finds out he actually touched them?  LOL!

So what crazy thing would we find in your purse?

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This project was featured on A Pinch of Joy!