Upcycled Sewing Caddy

Lately, I have been having so much fun with hand embroidery. It's pretty surprising, since I am quite impatient (just ask my husband) and embroidery is very slow-going, but I just love the pictures the thread creates. My first try at embroidery was sprucing up a sweater destined for the donate pile; a Charlie Brown Christmas tree:

It's a fun hobby but there are a lot of small pieces to it: floss, needles, scissors, hoop, etc. and I found myself sitting in my chair with little sharp pieces all around me—not the safest thing with babies in the house. I started searching for an organizer and came across a bunch of pretty armchair sewing caddies on Etsy. I was about to buy one when I wondered if I could make a simpler one myself. 

I found a tutorial that showed how to make  a caddy out of a place mat and thought it was so smart! I don't have any decent-sized place mats though, so I went on the hunt for something I could use.  Upcycling is all about using what you've got, after all. I came across an old fleece blanket and, while certainly not stylish, I knew it could work.

I was going to cut the fleece in half but found that if I folded it in half length-wise, it would give me double the pockets!

Next, I folded up each side. I just put mine over the arm of my recliner to see how much I wanted to fold up on each side.

After, I pinned each side and hand-sewed up the sides (can't wait until I get my sewing machine!). 

I decided I wanted 2 pockets on each side. For one, I just sewed a line directly down the middle to make two equal-size pockets. For the other, I made a narrower pocket and a larger, that could accommodate my embroidery hoop. You can kind of see the lines in this picture. To the left, there is a narrow pocket and to the right, 2 equal pockets. 

For the center, I wanted a pin-cushion. I made an ugly but functional one using fleece scraps. 

I rolled one scrap into a tube.

I then wrapped the tube in my solid scrap.

Next, I just sewed a straight stitch down each side and the back center.

Here it is in all of it's ugly glory:

I then affixed it to my caddy by sewing a straight stitch down the back only, onto the fleece. I did two of these straight stitches, to firmly anchor it.

And here it is in use! I love the double pockets that were created by folding the fleece in half before using. I use one large pocket for my embroidery hoop, but the other one I use for scraps and small trash. I also like that I placed my pin cushion up top instead of centered, so I can rest my arm in the gap. This is so not pretty, but it was absolutely free, simply required 6 straight stitches for the caddy and 5 for the pincushion, and it works so well.  You could do this with a much prettier fleece blanket or fabric print, or with a pretty place mat if you have one. I hand-sewed this entire thing, and it took me about an hour to complete.  If you have a machine, you could finish this up in minutes. Hooray, upcycling!