Fabric Mail Sorter

Here is what you can make with three home decorator samples from your local fabric store.  A wall hanging mail and letter sorter.  That's right ladies, for just $6 and some scraps of fabric you too can make this easy project.  Everyone dumps their mail on the first flat spot when they walk in the door, but wouldn't it be nice to have a designated place until you can sort through it?  I'll show you how.

First step is to find fabric that you like. For mine, I just used three square samples of fabric that were 17" x 17" wide.

I cut out squares and rectangles that I wanted to use for pockets.  And I stitched all the edges closed using a regular straight stitch on my sewing machine. You can make whatever size pockets you want. I just eyeballed the sizes.  To help you, press the edges closed so it's easier to stitch.

Next I sewed the bottom and sides of the pockets to one square piece of fabric.

Make sure to leave the tops of the pockets open as this is where you'll stash your mail, pens, etc.

Next I turned my square upside down and placed the backing fabric so that both right sides are together. Then I stitched around all the edges leaving just a little hole so that I could turn it right side out. This is similar to making a pillow.

Then I turned the whole thing right side out and hand stitched the little hole shut.

At this point, I needed to figure out a way to hang the sorter on the wall and also it needed more details on the front. For hanging, I stitched a dowel to the back using some fabric. Then I sewed buttons to each corner and used ribbon around the buttons and in the middle for added support.

I used off white ribbon across the top of each pocket to give the pockets a finished look and hand stitched them on. In retrospect, it would have made more sense to sew this ribbon on first and fold it over the top. But I'm still learning.

Here is a little close up of one of the clear buttons I chose. And you can see the nice diamond shaped pattern on the black fabric.

This little mail sorter has been very handy at storing our mail until we can look through it, some white board markers and an eraser.

Have you tried to make something similar? I would love to see what you made for storing mail or any other fun little sewing project.  As I said, I'm still  learning as I go, so hopefully I can keep coming up with some fun little ideas like this around the house. Oh and I'm almost done sewing my skirt for my sewing class. Just need to hand stitch the hem line and I'm done! Can't wait to share pics with you.

xo

Cathleen