Hanging Jewelry Holder

Funny how an inspiration or idea sets the wheels in motion, but then the project completely changes and takes on a life of it's own - this time it happened because of my laziness I decided to take a few shortcuts! I initially was going to make the hanging jewelry holder inspired by this project - I didn't end up making the jewelry holder at all like she did, but I did use her guideline how to make the little pleats so the pockets are fuller instead of being flat against the fabric like an envelope.

Yes this is a somewhat gerry-rigged jewelry holder but guess what? It's for the RV and no one (except you guys that is) will see it - and I don't care if it is a little crafty-homemade, it totally works for what I need it to do...which is hold all the little bits of jewelry and odds and ends that were starting to pile up in the very small drawer beside the bed...and I could not care less that I didn't make it all super professional and fancy looking - I saved loads of time and got the same outcome.

If you can't tell by this first photo, I basically sewed some vinyl strips to a hand towel and clipped it to a pant/skirt hanger. This sounds really lame now that I'm saying it out loud...oh well!

I'm betting no one will be making my hanging towel/slash/jewelry holder but on the off chance you do - here's what I did:

First, figure out how many rows of pockets you want, and what size. I did 2 rows of shorter 3" pockets for smaller things like earrings, and 1 deeper 5" row for bigger bracelets, etc. and I folded the bottom of the towel up about 5" to create 3 bigger pockets that you can't see thru (I can hide things in there I don't want to be visible!). Then cut strips of clear vinyl the width of the towel plus a few inches for making the pleats. Sew bias tape to the edges of each strip.

Fold up the bottom edge of the towel about 5" and pin in place. Lay the vinyl strips on the towel and figure out how many pockets you want in each row and how far apart you want to space each row. For the deeper pockets I only did 3, the smaller pockets have 4 in each row. Pin both edges of a strip to the edges of the towel, then pin in the pocket pleats along the bottom edge of the strip - see the above link if you want to see lots more photos. I just winged this part after seeing what she did. Basically just make little folds on either side of each pocket and pin in place, once you have all the pleats pinned sew down the sides and across the entire bottom edge of the vinyl strip. Then sew a straight line between each pocket. I'm sorry I didn't take more photos of this step! 

Finish attaching the other vinyl strips and making the pockets. Sew the bottom folded portion in place and straight lines down thru the pouch to create the bottom pouches.

Voilá - one perfectly acceptable and useful travel jewelry holder now hangs in my RV closet - I've also organized other things with Command hooks for hats and little purses; a 3 drawer plastic dresser thing for sweatshirts, shoes, and bathing suits; and 1/2 of a hanging shoe holder I'm using for other things like sunglasses, knit hats, etc. 

3.18.18: corned beef and cabbage soup (use those leftovers!)

3.18.17: wine bottle storage using ABS drain tiles or PVC pipe

3.18.16: duct tape pencil holder (kid craft)

Happy moment ~ butterflies in our neighborhood. like millions of butterflies. they're everywhere  - google butterfly migration in Southern California, it's a real thing - I've never seen anything like it!