Materials:
3 sheets of stiff plastic canvas
Yarn in color of choice
Large eye sewing needle
Scissors
Tape measure
You need to make sure you buy the stiff kind of plastic canvas as the more flexible stuff wont be as sturdy. I bought mine at Michael's for 59 cents a sheet. I started by measuring the inner dimensions of my bag as well as the sheets and decided on how long and wide to make it. Then I dumped all the stuff out of my purse and started arranging it on the bottom piece and marking the dimensions I wanted to make each compartment with a sharpie. I ended up counting squares on the grid in order to measure where to make my cuts. I decided on an arrangement that had smaller compartments on one side and two larger compartments on the other. Then, using my yarn and large eye needle I started sewing the pieces together with a whip stitch. I started with the first outer side piece and went on from there.
At first, I left a tail at the end to be sewn in later but then I realized it would be easier to sew back through the whip stitches I had already made in order to secure the tail. If I had paid better attention to the tutorial I would have realized this sooner as this is exactly what it said to do.
The tutorial made another good point, you want to think about where each piece goes and put it together in an order which keeps you from having to jam your hands into a tiny little space to make the stitches. I found this hard to avoid, however, when I started working on the smaller compartment with a middle partition I wanted to use for pens, pencils, and other small items. In retrospect, I should have attached the partition first and then attached the two middle pieces to the long side.
At this point I switched from using a regular large eye needle to one which was curved. The curve made it much easier to pull the needle through the stiff plastic in this tiny space, if you have one I highly recommend using it.
Unfortunately I was so distracted by the boys that I didn't get any pictures of these next steps but I am basically laying out the order in which I assembled all the pieces. I actually attached the first side to the bottom piece next so I wouldn't have to sew the middle pieces onto the bottom after the side was closed up. Then I took the long middle piece and sewed the last compartment for the other side on first before attaching it to the rest of the piece. I started at one side and sewed it to the middle pieces as I went. Leaving one side open is important because it gives you more room to get your hand in there. Next I sewed the last long outer side on to the side edges, the bottom piece, and the middle piece. Lastly you sew all around the outside to make sure there are no rough plastic edges to scratch yourself on. Also, if you left tails as I did this is when you should sew them in. Just sew around the tail as you make the normal whip stitch. I actually had one more step after this, sewing the long middle piece onto the bottom, which I should have done earlier to make it easier on myself.
Here's a final picture of the completed organizer with all my stuff in it. I should have gotten a pic of it while it was still empty but I was in a hurry to get it into my purse.
The tutorial said it took a total of about 4 hours with all the interruptions of life but should only be one full hour of uninterrupted work. Well, at the end of one hour of uninterrupted work I had barely gotten everything cut. At which point the boys woke up from their naps. It took me a total of about 12 hours with probably 4 of those hours being uninterrupted before I completed it. I think I spent a lot more time measuring and cutting for one thing, I guess I'm just to much of a perfectionist. I also think I have a bigger purse and therefore made a bigger organizer. I also had a lot more compartments to sew together which is probably what made the biggest difference. So keep that in mind when you're planning yours out. The bigger your purse, and therefore organizer, and the more compartments you want the more time consuming this will be.
Next, I think I might have to make a play garage out of this stuff as my 3 year old kept insisting that's what this was while I was making it. I should have gotten a picture of him putting his car in it but didn't think about it until too late.
