WRAPPING PAPER ORGANIZER TUTORIAL

(allow 2+ hours to make)

MATERIALS NEEDED:

* Kitchen stool. Keep your eyes open for one at the thrift store or yard sales. I used a stool we had but were no longer using. I actually bought it a few years ago at Walmart for about $20.

* Fabric: To make two larger bags and two smaller bags like I did you are going to need about 2 1/2 yards of fabric or one $5 twin flat sheet from Walmart. Of course you will need more fabric depending on the size of your stool and the design of your fabric chosen. Read below to see how to determine the amount of fabric needed.

* 4 Casters. You can buy these at any hardware store.

* 2 packages of bias tape or about 4 yards of homemade bias tape. (Of course you could use ribbon as well.) And really the amount needed depends on how long your want your ties to be.

My stool was a light colored wood that I no longer like so I sprayed it white. Now here is how you determine how much fabric you are going to need. Take and lay your stool on its side. Measure from right under the seat part to the bottom of the last rung. Mine measured 18″ long. Now measure the length between the legs at the widest part of the legs. Mine measured 12″ at the widest part. Another way to measure is to lay a piece of fabric down on the table and then lay the stool (on it’s side) on top of that piece of fabric. Then trace onto the fabric right under the seat and then trace on the bottom of the last rung. Then trace on the outer edges of the legs of the stool. Confused? It’s actually really easy and once you see the second picture below you will totally understand what I mean.

See the piece of fabric below? This is the piece that I traced out and cut. You are going to want to cut out a piece of fabric like so as well. Now you are going to need 4 pieces cut like so to make one bag. Which means you are going to need 12 pieces the same exact size to make a gift wrapping organizer just like mine. So measure your piece of fabric or use your measurements to determine the amount of fabric needed. I actually used a $5 sheet from Walmart, but by my calculations I came up with about 2 1/2 yards needed per stool for a stool my size. But to be certain, do the math yourself by your measurements.

Cut out your 12 pieces of fabric per your measurements. Take two pieces of fabric and sew right sides together on the sides and the bottom. Leave the top (widest part of bag) open. See picture below.

Now you want to square off the edges to give the bag shape. To do this, fold your bag out like shown below. Now measure in about 1 1/2″ from the tip of the bag. Draw a line across.

Sew on the lines you just drew.

Trim off the excess fabric.

Now your bag has shape. Make 3 more bags like you just did. You will want a total of 4 bags with 4 pieces of fabric left over. The remaining 4 pieces will be cut later to make the smaller bags.

Now gather your bias tape.

You are going to cut your bias tape or ribbons to the length that you want your ties to be. I cut 6 pieces of bias tape 24″ long. Now top stitch your bias tape shut.

Measure in 2″ from the edge of your bag on both sides. This is where you will want to attach your bias tape. Fold bias tape in half. Place folded part of bias tape on top of marks and tack in place.

Now take one of your bags and turn it wrong side out. Place right side out bag that has ties inside. Pin both bags together at top.

Sew around top while leaving an opening for turning right sides out.

Turn bag right side out through opening.

Press and top stitch around top edge.

Now tie the bag onto the stool.

Repeat with the other two bags.

Now gather the remaining 4 pieces of fabric and fold in half like below. Cut on folded edge.

Now you have 4 pieces of fabric in two different sizes. 4 smaller pieces and 4 bigger pieces. The two different sizes will give you the two different sized bags. So just like before, you are going to make 2 bags from the four pieces of fabric. Just make sure you are sewing the same sized pieces together.