Elastic Organizer Binder Tutorial

I promised to show you how I used the dyed elastic and here you go! I turned a regular binder into...

a portable elastic organizer:

Want to make one for yourself, or for your kid? This one went to my bro-in-law who is headed for college in a week!

What you need:

1. 3 ring binder
2. Elastic. I used 1" wide and 1/2" wide. (dyed if you wish)
3. Ribbon
4. Hot glue
5. Binder clips (not needed, but can help.)

Here we go!

First, cut 1 piece of elastic. For mine, I cut the 1" elastic 6 in long and the 1/2" elastic 6 1/2 in long. But before you cut a bunch of them, take the binder clip to hold one end, then stretch it around the inside of the binder. This will leave one hand free to test the stretch of the elastic, you want it to be tight enough to hold things without letting them slide out. I tested with a pack of cards.

Once you figure out what length you need for your elastic, cut as many as you will use

Next step is to lay the elastic out so you know where you will want it. Don't bother trying to weave it yet. This is just to get a feel for where they will be. Make sure to leave space for the binder rings so they won't hit when you close the binder.

Now you hot glue. Do the vertical ones first. Glue the top of each elastic on the outside of the binder, allow to dry for a few minutes to make sure it holds. Then stretch it down and glue the other end, also to the outside.

For the horizontal ones, start on the inside, gluing the edge to the edge where the binder folds.

it looks weaved, but you don't need to worry about that when doing this step.

Now is the fun part of weaving the elastic. You can weave it however you want, just try to leave some larger stretches as well as small ones. I used pins to hold them down to see what it would look like. You could also use the binder clips again.

After you've weaved it to your satisfaction, hot glue the other end on the outside. Your binder should now look like this:

Now to cover the edges. For the inside, I chose this inspirational printed twill tape. Just lay it over and hot glue it down.

 

Choosing how to cover the outside took some time. I considered covering with awesome material, or scrapbook paper. But this was made for an 18 year old boy. I had to make sure it wasn't girly-crafty. So I had to ask my husband... He helped me decide that the satin ribbon was the least girly of the options. If you are making it for a girl, you could do such pretty and cute things with this part!!

But here's how you do the ribbon. First, measure it against the edge, leaving a bit extra on either end. Fold it over and secure with a dab of hot glue.

Then hot glue over the elastic ends.

Even though there are no elastic edges to cover, I decided to put ribbon on the folded edge too, so it was symmetrical. And now your done!

Outside:

Inside:

Stuff with your stuff and take it to school!

Actual stuff of the bro-in-law. He was pretty excited about it! And claimed it was not too girly.

Enjoy!

Kool Aid Dyed Elastic Tutorial

For my Elastic Organizer I dyed some of the elastic blue with Kool-Aid. I had planned to dye the other orange, but didn't when my I realized it wouldn't go with the other colors on the piece.

But I'm in the process of making a travel version of the organizer, so I pulled out the stuff to dye some elastic orange. Want to know how I did it?

First, gather your supplies:

1 - large pot half full of water

2 - packages of Kool-Aid (the more you use, the darker the color.)

3 - red food dye (to help boost the color)
4- vinegar (not pictured)

5 - spoon you don't mind turning orange (or whichever color you are doing)

6 - elastic

Turn on the stove to high. Add the Kool-Aid to the water and stir it in. Add the food coloring. I used 5 drops. You can do more, but remember that the color with come out pastel-ish anyway. Last, add 1/4 cup vinegar per pack of Kool-Aid.

Allow the mixture to boil.

Wet the elastic in the sink so it's completely wet. (Don't ask me why, that's just what I read you are supposed to do with fabric, so I thought, "why not".) Add elastic to boiling pot. Let it boil for about 5 min.

Remove the pot from the burner and let it sit until it's cool. This time allows more color to soak in.

Once it's cool, I pulled it out with the spoon, let it drip a bit,

Then put it on a rag to dry.

Because what I'm using the elastic for won't be washed, I don't have to worry about permanence. If you are dying fabric you will want to make sure the dye is set,  so there are some differences. Here are a couple links you may find helpful:

How to Dye Fabric Using Kool-Aid and Vinegar

Dyeing Fabric with Kool-Aid

My whole house smells like orange drink. :o)