Zipper Bags for Organization -- TUTORIAL

My very least favorite things to organize are those teeny-tiny bits and pieces that really need to be organized within your organization. What am I talking about? LEGOS, and those goofy little itty-bitty pieces that you need when you need them. As in, you reeeally don't want to dig through your entire gigantic container of Legos to find a particular wheel or light or figure or gun.

Well, I've got a solution to the Lego problem, as well as some craft/sewing organization issues.

SUPPLIES:

~ Zipper-type plastic bags
~ Scrap of fabric or ribbon
~ A few pins
~ Sewing machine

STEP ONE: Cut your fabric/ribbon scrap 2 1/2" x the width of your bag + 2". (My bags were 6" wide, so I cut my fabric strip 2 1/2"x8")

STEP TWO: Press your fabric strip down the center, open, then fold the two raw edges to the center and press. (Your strip will look kind of like a very short piece of bias binding.)

STEP THREE: Take as many bags as you'd like in your group (I did five this time), and line them all up. Center them in the middle of your pressed piece, all the way to the center line you pressed, with 1" of fabric overhand on either end. Pin. (This is a little tricky because those bags are slippery!)

STEP FOUR: Start sewing about 1 1/2" in on the inside edge of your fabric binding. (This will give you room to turn under that 1" overhang.)

STEP FIVE: Stop when you get a couple inches from the end, open your binding, and tuck the end in.

It will look like this. Sew to the edge, leaving the needle in the down position. Lift your foot, turn your bags, and stitch that short end. Then repeat to go back down the other edge and around to the other side, tucking in that end in the same manner.

You're done!

Now you can fill each bag with those annoyingly necessary itty-bitty bits!

I use these bags for many other things too:

I alphabetized my I-Spy fabrics in gallon-size bags using the same method, labeling each bag. (I divided them into three groups so they would all fit without being a huge circle of stuffed bags!)


I also organized my ridiculous ribbon scraps by color. I even used a scrap of ribbon for my binding edge!

I even use these bags for organizing quilt blocks I've already cut out but not sewn yet, so each block has its own bag. It eliminates a lot of confusion when I sit down to sew!