my boat plans: DIY Rollup Organizer for Back to School (in 15 minutes)

DIY Rollup Organizer for Back to School (in 15 minutes)

I’ve been working on getting the studio organized (and ‘finished’ to the point of sharing an official studio tour) this last month and a half. And it’s led me to some organizational project stuff that I’ve been wanting to share. Some projects are large (can’t wait to show you what I’m talking about – very soon) and some are small. Today happens to be on the small side…

It’s a 15 minute project that is almost too easy (and functional) not to take the time to make, for a DIY rollup organizer. All you need is a tea towel and a sewing machine (and thread). That’s it!

We made a couple and I’ve been using them to keep small items like pencils, scissors, paint brushes, etc handy at the studio. But it also totally works for back to school, if you have any little ones. Click through for the step by step instructions.

Materials / Tools

tea towel with an interesting design*
sewing machine / thread
(optional) thin leather strip 8-12 inches long

*In case you’re curious, the pink pattern tea towel I used for this DIY is vintage. But the green tea towel can be found right here.

Instructions

1. Lay your tea towel flat and using a pencil to measure fold up the bottom section, pin on each side and sew.

2. Continuing to use your pencil to measure decide how wide you would like for each section to

be, pin and then sew.

3. Fold over your top section and decide how far you would like the fold to come. If your towel is just the right length you can skip this step. But if not, cut off excess fabric and hem.

4. To finish, iron your fabric at the fold and sew a seam from side to side to make a flap that will lay flat.

5. (Optional) To keep the rollup secure, you can add a leather strip, tied in a knot. I didn’t attach mine to the actual rollup – just wrapped it around and knotted it after everything was rolled. But you can sew the two pieces together, if it makes more sense to have that piece connected.

I love how these little guys turned out because I am always, ALWAYS losing things (pens, pencils, etc). And these organizers are a lot harder to lose track of than a pencil. Hope you like ’em too.