This ARM CHAIR ORGANIZER will make a great gift for upcoming Mother’s Day or Father’s Day to keep remote controls, pen, book, magazines all in their place so they are never lost again! After surveying many photos of such organizers online, this is my ‘solution’ for tried and tested directions. I’ll be using this as a project with my advanced students at the Sunroom Sewing Studio in Jackson, TN.
Supplies
1 yard 54” Home Dec fabric for Body, Backing and Pockets #1 & 3 1 yard 44” Cotton fabric for Binding and Pocket #2 12”x 44” Fusible Fleece 1/3 yard Woven Fusible Interfacing for Pocket #2 Thread, Rotary Ruler and Cutter, and 18” of 3/4” wide elastic Fabric Marker that will show on the Body – I love Frixion Markers that disappear with heat
Cut Pieces
Pull a thread to straighten an edge to begin with clipping at selvage edge and pulling across the width. Rotary cut along this line. THEN proceed to measure and cut pieces as instructed below.
Length: Measure the furniture for which you are making the Organizer to determine a length to go from barely the floor, up and over the arm, and plenty to tuck under the furniture cushion to hold it in place. Mine is 42” long. This measurement will be listed as Length* in the directions. Record your Length here: _____”
Pocket #2: To accommodate depth remote controls, I added 3” in width and added an extra 1”to be sure it was wide enough. Test with all controls you want to store in your Organizer to determine the width of YOUR Pocket #2. Apply this measurement for the width of cutting marked with an* below. For my project, this was 16”. Cut Body and Backing (2 pieces) Length ___ x 12” wide from Home Dec Fabric Cut Pocket #1: 20” x 12” wide from Home Dec Fabric Cut Pocket #3: 7” x 12”wide from Home Dec Fabric *Cut Binding for Pocket #2 2 pieces 2.5” x 16” from Home Dec Fabric Cut Fusible Fleece Length x 12” wide *Cut Pocket #2: 16” wide x 12” deep from 44” Cotton Fabric *Cut Pocket #2 Interfacing 16” x 12” of Fusible Interfacing Cut Pocket Bindings: 1 piece 2.5” x 26” for Pocket #1 andPocket #3 Cut Outer Bindings: 2 pieces that are 14” x 1.75” wide for top and bottom 2 pieces that are Length ___ x 1.75” wide for the sides
Construct & Quilt Body
Fuse Fleece to wrong side (WS) of the Body piece. Layer fused Body to Backing, WS together and pin for quilting. Quilt together as desired. I stitched lengthwise down the center, and then 2” either side of the center twice. Let your fabric determine what will look good. Square up the edges using rotary ruler and cutter.
Check for Pocket Placement
Before starting to bind your Pockets, pin it all together to determine if the placement I used will work for the height of the arm of your furniture to the floor. This depth is pretty standard, but you might want to check it out first. You do not want Pocket #1 binding to be on the horizontal top the Organizer.
Also – gather ALL the controllers you want to store in the Organizer.
Bind Pockets
Fuse Interfacing to back of Cotton Pocket #2. Press in half WS together so it is 6” deep. Using Home Dec Binding Strips that are 2.5” wide, Bind TOP and Bottom of Pocket #2 with Londa’s Binding Technique as below. This ‘Londa’s Binding Method’ will be used throughout this project.
Binding Step 1. Stitch RIGHT Side (RS) of Binding to WRONG Side (WS) of pocket with a 1/4” seam.
Binding Step 2. Press Binding up, away from the Pocket.
Binding Step 3. Press cut loose edge of Binding in to almost meet the other cut edge (where you seamed the binding to the pocket).
Binding Step 4. Press folded edge down, over top of Pocket. Stitch along the folded edge. In Photo to the upper right, this is completed on the left side, and the pressing is shown on the right side. The Binding should end up approximately 1” wide.
Use my Binding Technique to bind the following: Bind upper edge of Pocket #1 with the Cotton Fabric. Bind upper edge of Pocket #3 with the Cotton Fabric.
Customize Pocket #2
Add some ‘snap’ to the inside of the upper binding of Pocket #2 by threading 3/4” elastic through between the binding layers. Use a large safety pin, or an EZ Threader that makes it easy to guide through the elastic. Leave the elastic plenty long at both edges for now.
3. Use your controllers to decide how much extra ‘length’ is needed to accommodate their thickness in each section. Decide the most often-used Controller, and plan it to be towards the FRONT of the Organizer for easiest access.
(For mine, I then switched the controller shown at the right to the leftmost placement.) Pull elastic to fit snuggly with the controllers in place. Stitch to secure at both side edges.
4. Mark the vertical stitching lines that create the sectioned pocket slots.
5. Stitch vertically through ALL layers, securing really well at the upper edge by stitching backwards and forward several times at the edge.
6. To prevent the controllers from sliding through, run a short but very secure line of stitching through all layers along the lowermost edge of the lower binding. See this from the back side of Pocket #1 as shown.
The customized Pocket #2 should now be stitched in place as shown.
Add Pocket #3 to the Pocket Unit
1. Align lowermost edge of the unit of Pockets 1 & 2 to the lower edge of Pocket #3. Add any vertical stitching as I did to establish places for a pen notebook, etc.
2. Lay the total collection of Pockets on top of the Body/Lining quilted unit, aligning the lowermost edges.
3. Trim any excess along the long sides using the rotary ruler and cutter. Baste along the side and bottom most edges.
Pocket #1 will be VERY deep. Decide if you want to stitch across it to make it shallower. I did so, stitching through EVERYTHING at the bottom of Pocket #2.
Bind the Outermost Edges
Using Londa’s Binding Method, bind both of the long side edges, cutting binding flush with the upper and lower edges.
Using the same Binding method, and allowing 1” extra at each side edge, do Step 1 through Step 3 of the Binding Method, bind the top and bottom edges.
3. Fold in the excess as shown before Pressing in and stitching as in Step 4 of the Binding Method.
You’re DONE! Place over the armchair, tucking in uppermost edge under the cushion to hold in place.
Copyright 2018 by Londa Rohlfing. Londa’s Creative Sewing. FREE use is allowed for your personal use and gift-making.
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