Organize your shoes with a shoe pocket holder.
Shoe pockets are space savers. Instead of taking up valuable closet space, or leaving shoes littered along bedroom floors and house closets, store them in a shoe pocket. A shoe pocket is a long piece of material that you can sew yourself with pockets for your shoes. The fabric shoe organizer hangs over the back of a closet or bedroom door, getting shoes off the floor and where they should be -- ready for you to wear.
Instructions
1. Select two contrasting colors of thick, sturdy fabric like canvas or cotton. Choose a light color for your background and a dark color for your pockets, or vice versa. Purchase 3 yards of the background fabric and 1 yard of the pocket fabric.
2. Measure your background panel and mark it with a fabric pencil so that it is 27 x 79 inches. Cut out the panel with a pair of fabric scissors.
3. Mark and cut six strips of fabric that will become the pockets of your shoe pocket organizer so they measure 47 x 8 inches. Cut six strips of trim for the pockets that measure 47 x 4 inches.
4. Fold in the sides of the background material one-half inch and pin them in place. Use a zigzag stitch on a sewing machine to make a hem around the edges of the shoe pocket organizer background material to prevent fraying.
5. Lay the background face down on a flat surface. Fold the top edge over 2 1/2 inches and pin in place. Sew a straight stitch, including a top stitch at the left side, to create a strong loop for a dowel rod to be inserted through. Understand that the dowel rod will provide support for your organizer when it's full of shoes.
6. Lay one of the pocket strip trim pieces face up on a flat surface. Lay one of the pocket strip pieces on top of it. Pin the edges in place so that the pocket fabric overlaps the trim by 1/2-inch. Fold all edges of the trim and pocket fabric 1/4-inch over and pin in place. Sew a straight stitch around all edges. Repeat for remaining five shoe pocket rows.
7. Pin the top edge of the top pocket row 2-inches below the dowel rod loop at the top front of the shoe pocket organizer. Pin left and right edges of the pocket row 1/2-inch in from the sides of the background fabric. Measure 3-1/2-inches from the bottom of the first pocket row and pin the second pocket row in place in the same manner as the first. Repeat for remaining four pocket rows.
8. Sew a straight stitch around the edges of the pocket rows, starting with the top pocket, removing pins as you go. Measure 10-1/2-inches in from the far left side of the top pocket. Place a sewing pin there at the bottom and top of the pocket to mark where you will make a vertical stitch to form an individual pocket. Continue marking and pinning all rows, 10-1/2-inches apart to form four pockets on each of the six rows for a total of 24 pockets that will hold 24 pairs of shoes.
9. Sew a straight stitch at all the vertical stitch marks. Remove pins as you go.
10. Drill 3/8-inch holes through the ends of the dowel rod. Insert the dowel rod through the loop at the top of the shoe pocket organizer. Screw the rod into the back of your closet door or wall with 3/8-inch wood screws.
Tags: shoe pocket, pocket organizer, shoe pocket organizer, straight stitch, around edges, pocket fabric
