So, for years my mom was insistent that I really should be using one of those dayplanner things, to keep track of my many and varied social events.* I would dutifully acquire one, use it halfheartedly for a week or two, and then it would languish unused in my backpack or on my desk or somewhere for the rest of the year. I’d rather just have a list of things that need doing, and a list of deadlines, than write down all the stuff I should do on a specific day. Eventually my mom gave up on it, realizing that it just wasn’t going to happen.
But it’d be good to have some sort of repository of notes, lists, and deadlines, and while puttering around on Etsy I found just the ticket. Except, of course, it needed more bells and whistles (read: unnecessary pockets). I’m a little leery about linking the original source, because her store blurb has a comment to the effect of “Don’t copy my idea!” and, well, I totally did. I’ve no intention of making more of these, or selling this one, though, so I’m not too bent out of shape about it. Plus her version, while very nice (and probably less plagued by slightly skewed parts), just didn’t have enough unnecessary pockets.
So, behold the nanaimo organizer:
Mmmm, nanaimo bars.
Pretty!
With the main flap open.
Opened up, the panel on the left will hold a calendar (once I print one off) and the pocket on the right holds a small notebook. The upper band make sure things don’t flop out, and the weird strip on the inside of the closing flap is for holding safety pins and hair clips.
Opening up the calendar flap.
The calendar flap opens out, revealing two pockets for assorted papers, notes, and whatever else I pick up in my travels.
Unnecessary pockets!
The yellow part on the outside is a pocket, on both the front and the back. Stealthy!
A top view.
It folds up nicely, and the spine accommodate the spiral ring notebook. The notebook actually helps the calendar flap keep its shape and not go all bendy when it’s folded over.
It’s made out of brown twill and cotton linen, and it closes with magnets. This is the first time I’ve sewn with magnets, and they are a huge pain in the butt. They’re strong, so they’ll work through several layers of fabric (which is good) but they stick to EVERYTHING. The face plate on my sewing machine, the ironing board, the needle, pins, my scissors…. oy. Couple that with the irritating interfacing** with glue on both sides, and this thing had its headaches. I didn’t take into account the bulk involved in folding it into thirds, so the pen slot doesn’t work (the pen fits, but it makes the spine too bulky and the flap doesn’t close properly) — I’m going to make a little pocket on the notebook pocket to slide a pen into. The flap doesn’t close quite evenly (the magnets went in slightly skewed, I think), which is irritating me no end but I’d have to rip apart the whole thing to fix it and that’s not happening. The calendar panel went a little wonky too, and the long inside pocket fell prey to the “things sag in the middle when you turn them right side out and iron the bejeebus out of them because you interfaced the seam allowances too when really you shouldn’t've” trap… Such are the pitfalls of making things with bright contrasts. If it was all brown, it’d be much less obvious, but it’d also be much more boring. That said, my poor machine’s glad this is done — it sounded like it was coughing up a hairball trying to chunk though the thick seams at the end. That interfacing is not to be trifled with.
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* Hah, I wish.
** For the non seamstresses in the audience, interfacing is a stiffener/stabilizer that is either ironed or sewn on to fabric to give it body, strength, and stiffness. It comes in all sorts of weights, and is tremendously useful for waistbands and collars and such.
