18th project completed - a desk tidy and pencil pot!

Hi all,

As I mentioned last week I have set my sights on tidying up my work room. Like a lot of crafters, I have far too much stuff hanging around as well as a bulging craft stash yet to be used. The worst area in my room is my desk. Constantly cluttered, it needs to be both a place to work and play. So this week I decided to make some storage for all the stationary I have. Hopefully then I will stop losing things!

So here it is.........

Materials needed

• Assorted tubs and pots
• Newspaper
• Wadding
• Lining type fabric
• Sewing machine
• Threads
• FREEZER PAPER - we sell this by the metre in our online store at: www.julytextilesandcrafts.co.uk
• Computer
• Ink jet printer

To make the fabric:

I used a computer manipulated image. You can do this online on a site like www.photobucket.com which has a large number of editing tools. You need to register and upload an image. Then you can play with all the editing tools available. Once you have an image save it to your computer or you can save and print out directly from the website.

Steps to print fabric using freezer paper:

Freezer paper is a great product, one of it's many uses is to help print images onto fabric at home. A note of caution though, images will not be washable so unless you have pre-treated the fabric with a special solution the process is not suitable for clothes etc.

1. Cut a piece of freezer paper to A4 size (or A3 if you have an A3 printer).
2. Iron the shiny side to a piece of fabric the same size.

3. Print your design onto the fabric. I printed a couple of sheets to give me enough to cover my tidy.
4. Leave to dry and remove the paper.

Steps to make the desk tidy

1. Cut all rims from your pots

2. Arrange your pots as desired so they tessellate together. I used the large cream pot as a pencil pot and made two compartments with tin foil trays (the tin trays were easily bent around the edge of the pot and then joined together with a bit of tape).

3. Cover with wadding. I covered the pencil pot section separately as this made it easier to cover with fabric later.
4. Make a cardboard base large enough to mount onto all the pots when joined together, this will add stability to your tidy.
5. Cover carefully with your printed fabric slipstiching the edges together, As I said above I covered the pencil pot separately to make it easier.
6. Now stick your pots down onto the cardboard base which could be covered or painted to match.

There we have it, a handy desk tidy using scraps of fabric and discarded pots.

I suddenly have the urge to add some embroidery to this as I think it's a bit plain, so I might be coming back to it later. I will update you all if I do!