Hanging Mail Holder *NOW WITH TUTORIAL!*

[oneyedsally]

I came up with this because I needed a place to put my custom order forms in my sewing room. After I finished I decided it would also be great for holding mail so I made another one to go in the kitchen, since we always just pile the mail on the island and it drives me nuts!



This is the one in the kitchen. The front, back, and pockets are made of linen and the inside of the pockets/binding are chocolate brown cotton with big white polka dots. I'm actually really sad about the binding, in some places it's just plain because the dots are so big. I was going to use a different fabric but after much debate, the boyfriend and I decided it was actually black and this was all I had that was brown. I'm worried it looks bad.



A closer view of the pockets.



This is the one in my sewing room, the original! I wanted something with several pockets so I could separate new orders, in progress, and completed but not delivered. Since I don't really have a lot of free surfaces in my sewing room, especially near my cutting table, I decided it should be a hanging organizer and this idea popped in my head!



This organizer is also linen and the accent fabric is Amy Butler's Wallflower in Mustard.

Now I need some advice! I'd like to put labels on each pocket with our names or whatever category it is, but I'm not sure how to do it. My sister suggested whatever I make, I could attach it with safety pins instead of sewing so that they can be changed out so I think I will do that. I could use printable fabric, iron on, or I could also stamp on fabric or a ribbon. How do you think I should write our names and what medium should they be printed on?

Thanks for looking! I'd love to read your comments! 

EDIT: Due to the massive amount of photos, I've posted the tutorial on my blog instead of here on Craftster. Check it out!

EDIT: The photo of the pattern for the pockets isn't exactly clear. To clarify the measurements:

bottom piece: bottom - 5.5", straight vertical side - 5", angled vertical side - 5.5", top - 8"
top piece: bottom - 8", straight vertical side - 1 1/4", angled vertical side - 1.5", top - 8 1/4"

Also I didn't mention, but this is just half the pocket. Trace pattern with the flat side on the fold of the fabric.

[SeeMellySew]

That is awesome! I love both of them, great fabric combination! Don't worry about the dots, it still looks great!
What did you use to make them stiff? I like the idea of the safety pins holding on labels- that's what I was going to suggest. The only other thing I can think of is velcro, but safety pins would be easier!

I reeeally want to make some of these now, yours are so cool

[goldfishpollywog]

Awesome job!  I've been wanting to make something like this for my magazines. 

As for labeling, if it was mine, I would use velcro and make patches or shrinky-dink pieces with the matching piece on the back so that if we needed to switch them up we could.  But that is just me.

[craftADDchick]

I love this! And I desperately need one, so I'll be giving it a go as soon as I clear a few things off my plate.

As for labels, is it too late for you to stitch a piece of clear vinyl onto the front of each pocket? Then you could hand write (or computer print) labels and slip them into the clear vinyl pocket.  You could even put binding around the vinyl before you stitch it on so it would frame it nicely... And, if you put the binding on, you could use fabric glue to attach it if it's too late to sew it...

And, if you do try that, let me know how it works so I can try it on mine

[TwiztidBlood]

oh my gosh, I definatly need to make one of these!

[Jinjeet Phoenix]

This is lovely.  I love the shape the pockets hold and your choice of fabrics.

[HippieKender]

I think they look beautiful!  I would never have noticed missing dots if you hadn't mentioned it (and I had to go back to check).  I am bookmarking this for inspiration... I really want to make one!

[oneyedsally]

Thanks for your comments everyone! If anyone tries to make this, post pictures so I can see your take on it! I'm considering making more of these for my shop. Also, if there's enough interest in a tutorial I could make one, or I can provide measurements or pictures of my pattern pieces.

I do have some sticky velcro dots, so maybe I could use those. I also like the idea of attaching clear vinyl to make a little pocket. It would look really cute with matching binding! I probably could sew on the pockets still, but I'm afraid it would get bent out of shape when manuevering it to get at the right spot. I'll have to remember that for the next one I make though! My sister wants one for her kitchen so I'll try it on that.

What did you use to make them stiff?

I really love mixing and matching interfacing so I used several on this. For the main backing piece, I attached fusible fleece (Pellon 987F) to the linen, then backed it with a piece of Pellon 70, the really stiff stuff. This is a sew-in interfacing so I attached it before sewing on the pockets so it would be anchored in the center as well.  You could also use batting and make it more quilted looking, but I think it looks smooth this way and it rests against the wall nicely. This amount of interfacing also provides a nice anchor for your grommet (I used Dritz extra large).

For the pockets I attached Pellon 987F to the linen part, then sewed on Pellon 50 when I attached the linen to the pocket liner. I really recommend using some fusible on the pockets because for the yellow organizer I only used the Pellon 50 and I think you can really see the difference.

[CJKJ]

These are beautiful!  A tutorial would be great!  I love the look of linen and I think you did an awesome job with these. 

[Avian Flight]

Those are so useful and they look great! A tutorial or measurements would be awesome but either way I'm going to have to make one of these even if I need to figure it out myself. Thanks for the idea!