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I absolutely love planning. Â Planing birthday parties, weddings (yes, for the most part I enjoyed planning my wedding, which was before Pinterest, which makes me feel old), my day. Â Anything really. Â Planning kinda makes my heart happy.
In the past year or so I started using a planner with my blog, but nothing major. Â Just a small planner with a calendar. Â Since I’ve decided this year is going to be “The Year of A Sprinkle of Joy” (any The Middle fans out there??), I stepped up my game. Â That means I bought a larger planner. Â I use the ARC system from Staples, but actually won a START planner from Beth’s giveaway, so I can’t wait to compare. Â At any rate, a larger planner means I needed a new pen storage system.
“Pen storage system?” you may ask.
Yep, a pen storage system, or I guess you could say a pen holder. Â You see, when I plan, I like to use a variety of pen colors. Â In terms of my blog, different categories get different colors. Â It’s nice to take a glance at my planner and make sure I’m not to heavy in one category.
Seriously folks, this is such an easy project to bust out. Â I think it took me about an hour to make, and that includes stopping to take pictures. If you are looking for a new sewing machine check out the Brother SE400. This is the one I have, and love it!
STEP ONE:
Cut a piece of fabric 11.5″ high and 10.5″ long. You will be folding this half so that the finished dimensions are 11.5″ long and 5.25″ high.
STEP TWO:
Fold each 11.5″ side over about 1/4 of an inch and iron.
STEP THREE:
Cut your elastic 11″ long
STEP FOUR:
Place your elastic about 5.5″ from the bottom of one of the 10.5″ sides. Â Be sure to place it on the right side of the fabric.
STEP FIVE:
Fold the fabric fabric down, so that the top and bottom sides meet, and so that you are trapping the elastic between each side of the fabric, and sew shut. Â I also like to use a zig-zag stitch on the seams for some extra stability.
STEP SIX:
Now, do the same to the next side. When you are done it will look like this. It won’t lie flat since the elastic is a tad shorter than your fabric.
STEP SEVEN:
Now, fold over the top of your holder a second time, about 1/4″ (kind of like a hem), and sew.
STEP EIGHT:
Now flip the pouch out the right way.
STEP NINE:
It’s time to start marking where to put the lines. My rotary cutting mat and ruler made this hell-a easy, but a plain ruler would do just fine. I used chalk that I sharpened with a pencil sharpener, and made the lines an inch apart.
STEP TEN:
Now sew on those lines. To make this easier I adjusted my needle so that it was in the center of my presser foot. The presser foot I use has a little notch in the center, which makes it easy to keep things striaght.
And that’s it, your done! Â Now, put your pens in and admire your work.
Seriously, it’s really easy. It took me more time write this post, than to sew my pouch.
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