Monday, August 8, 2011

Bedside Caddy

A friend of ours asked me to make a bedside caddy for her daughter.  They had a bargain store version that just didn't hold up to the amount of use it was getting.  I was also given a stack of cotton batik fabrics to go crazy with.

So I measured and thought and measured and drew and measured and dreamed.  And then I measured and added and measured and cut and sewed and swore and ripped seams and sewed and ironed...  And eventually came out with this:


The original version had those fun mesh pockets that I salvaged for the new version.  The finished bucket measures about 4.5" in width, 12.5" in length, and 10" in depth.

Each piece of the outer bucket - pieced together front, sides, back, and bottom - is lined with a medium weight fusible interfacing for durability.



Inside, there is a large flat divider that can be used to hold a book or two, and a smaller divider that separates the remaining space in two sections.  Both dividers are sandwiched with medium weight fusible interfacing as well.


Boy, this fabric looks pink in my pics.  It's really a lovely shade of deep purple...

I made a pocket to slide under the mattress that will hold a piece of cardboard.  This way the whole thing can be washed when you remove the cardboard.  (Shown below is the original "under the mattress" part I cut off the old version and used in the pocket of the new version.)




Then it's just a matter of sliding it under the mattress.




And filling it up with your favorite bedtime items.



All in all, it came together fairly well.  I had a few issues with not measuring properly and cutting pieces that were too small (that's the problem with sewing after you should be in bed!).  And only one other mishap involving not attaching the small divider to the large divider, but we won't go into that.  It all came out cute in the end.  And the little girl I made it for had a huge smile on her face when she realized what it was!  That, right there, is the best part about sewing.

4 comments:

Zonnah said...

This is a really good idea!

aleia said...

thats super cool!

i like to see mr tickles in there! haha

Jessie said...

This is an awesome idea! I want to make a few!

Erica said...

I can't tell you how impressed I was with the way you made this. And yes, that "little girl" was grinning ear to ear and LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES it! (Almost as much as I love the batik bag you made me.)