After precisely one day of the 7AM Summer Slam challenge, I was already tired of looking at all of our Nike+ equipment all over the counter. So I decided to whip up a little cute somethin’ to hang by the front door and tidy things up a bit. I based my design on this pocket thingy my aunt crafted in her days at the car convertible sewing factory:

If you get the nudge to make a little organizer yourself, here are some directions. It’s really easy, and can be done in one naptime. For sanity’s sake, why not just go ahead and make a general rule right now: Never sew anything that takes longer than one naptime. Okay, here we go. Clock’s ticking.

Measure the things you will be putting in the pockets. You know how I feel about measuring. But this is important.

Cut out a swatch of fabric about 2″-3″ or so bigger on top and side than the things you will be pocketing (this will leave breathing room and seam allowance). I cut out two pieces and sewed them together (right sides facing, then turned right side out) for more stability. Also, now is a good time to look at your baby monitor (pictured, left), to make sure your baby is still sleeping. Proceed.

For no apparent reason, other than it was a really napful day, I also stitched around the whole piece again. I guess this is to sew up the little hole you leave for turning. Because you will be finishing the whole thing with a strip of binding, you could probably skip this. I give you permission.

Then, measure another swatch of fabric so that it will be the same size as the first – but taller on the top.

Again, I sewed these two taller pieces together and flipped it right side out to make the thing sturdier.

Because the items I planned to pocket were different sizes, I plotted out the pockets accordingly.

Use a chalk line to indicate where your pockets should be sewn.

Then sew up those lines. Sew them twice for good measure. Ugh, there’s that word again.

I made my own binding to go around the whole piece with a bias binding maker. Fun! But you can buy this stuff pre-made for cheap. Then pin the binding all around the outside of the apron (not shown because this is when I started to panic that naptime was over). And sew that puppy on.

And viola! You have a cute little organizer for your stuff. My how crafty you are!