My Latest Creation - a Jewellery Pliers Storage Solution

As some of you may know, I often struggle with tidiness and with keeping my bead supplies and findings organised in a neat and orderly manner.  I have periods of attempting to remedy this fault in my nature, but it is a constant battle!  I realised the other day that my disorganisation was getting out of hand once again and had to agree with my husband's verdict that I needed more storage space and containers.

While becoming more tidy and organised will entail much shopping for cupboards and storage boxes (and hey, I am not complaining!), I decided that I would make a start by sewing a fabric roll with which to store my multiple pairs of jewellery pliers (and it will be so much easier to carry  my pliers with me to craft classes or craft get-togethers).  I recently purchased Meet Me at Mike's: 25 Fun and Crafty Projects which includes a nifty little pattern for a fabric storage pouch/roll, which I knew I just had to try out.

The pattern was very easy to follow and took me an afternoon to complete (it would have been a lot faster if I hadn't spent ages searching for my supplies and if I had not paused every now and then to prepare dinner and pass my husband tools from his toolbox which he needed in the back yard).

Most of you will know that I have an inherent inability to follow recipes or patterns exactly, preferring instead to modify the instructions to the supplies I have on hand, and this project was no different.  The pattern recommended that a heavy fabric such as denim be used for the outside of the roll but I used a thick stretch fabric in a gorgeous dark grey which came from a skirt I found at my local op shop (thrift store).  I lined this fabric with interfacing to give it extra strength and decorated it with a sweet doily I found at another local op shop.  I have to add that I am really pleased with my doily adornment!  I love doilies as embellishments, but I was worried about whether my limited sewing skills would be up to attaching such a delicate, and slightly stretchy, decoration to my fabric.  As you can see, I did manage, but this was only by employing lots of pins and going very slowly with my sewing machine, ha ha.

I had originally planned to use fabric from a thrifted pillowcase for the lining of my fabric roll (I really liked the idea of a completely upcycled creation), but I changed my mind when I rifled through my Rouenneries by French General layer cake pack and found the gorgeous antique and red tournesal fabric.  I thought that the round paisley-like pattern beautifully matched the lace doily on the outside of the roll and, being a pre-cut 10" x 10" size, it was almost exactly the size I needed too, which meant less cutting for me!

I really enjoyed sewing this fabric roll and have already started thinking about which of my family members or friends could really use one as a birthday present, LOL.