Inspiration Journal - In Disguise - Project #3

Hello Everyone

Here I am back today with Project #3 for Inspiration Journal's 'In Disguise' Challenge which you can find HERE.  There is a fabulous $50 voucher for one lucky winner to spend at Inspiration Emporium.  I decided to keep away from Halloween for my third project and to make something practical.

I took a simple bamboo place mat, some beautiful Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements fabric, some elastic, glue and seam binding or ribbon...

And created this:

And opened out it looks like this:

A paint brush holder!  This could easily be used for knitting needles, pens, scissors or anything else that might fit in the holders.  You simply make the holders any size you wish.

This is so simple to make, you just need glue.  I suppose you could sew it if you have a sewing machine that takes quite thick fabric (the bamboo makes it quite thick) but my little craft sewing machine would not take it, so if you do want to make one, test it out on your sewing machine first!

The first thing to do is to thread the elastic through the bamboo at regular intervals.  You can put something in to test how big the loop on the top side should be.  You just need to make sure you use the same slats top and bottom on the bamboo mat, as you can see in the photo below.

Once you have threaded the elastic, just secure them at each end with some hand stitching.  This will be covered up later.

I did not take a photo of the next step because I was 'in the zone' but all you need to do is lay the mat on top of your fabric and cut around the fabric leaving approx 1" - 1.1/2" border of fabric all round.

Turn the bamboo mat over and apply glue (I used Ranger Glue N Seal) to the whole of the wrong side of the mat.  Lay the fabric onto the glued mat (pattern side up) and press firmly all over and then set it aside to dry.  This is important!  I did not heed my own advice and have a few ripples in mine...

Once dry, turn over and then fold the edges over to the inside.  I did this by gluing the fabric again with Ranger Glue N Seal, folding it over half way to hide the raw edge, gluing again and then folding it over to the inside as you can see in the photo above.  This gives a lovely neat and tidy edge and gives strength to the piece.  Do this on all four sides, cutting some bulk from the corners if you wish.

To finish off I sewed a piece of ribbon (or you could use some seam binding folded over and machine stitched) to one end (as you can see in image 2 above) so that the the piece can be rolled up and tied closed.

To finish off, because the corners are quite thick and I did not want them to come apart, I added some of Tim's Idea-ology corners, they keep the corners nice and snug.

So there you have it, a bamboo place mat disguised as a brush holder.  Thanks for looking and I hope you feel inspired to join in the challenge at Inspiration Journal where one lucky winner will receive a $50 voucher to spend at Inspiration Emporium.  You have got to be in it to win it!

If you make a purchase from Inspiration Emporium, don't forget to use my code Redanne to receive a 10% discount off your whole order.  Postage and Packing is very reasonable - $5 in the USA and $10 to Europe.

Hugs, Anne xx

P.S.  I have typed up some very basic instructions, if anyone wants them, just email me (address on my sidebar) and I will send them to you....

Items Used from Inspiration Emporium

Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements (Documentation)
Ranger Glue N Seal
Idea-ology Mini Corners