Homemade mail organizer

What you'll need

• 12 x 24-inch artist's canvas
• 1/2 yard fabric
• 2 fat quarters
• 1/2 yard heavyweight fabric for lining
• 1 yard heavyweight fusible interfacing
• Hot glue gun
• Spray adhesive
• Staple gun
• Scissors
• 3 metal label holders
• Twill tape
• Tape measure
• Sewing machine
• Thread

What you'll do

Trim your main fabric down so that it is just slightly larger than the canvas. Make sure you have enough around the edges to reach around to the back.

Lay down an old towel to protect your work surface, then spray the front and sides of the canvas with the spray adhesive.

Stretch the fabric across the canvas and use the staple gun to secure it in place.

Cut out the fabric for the front of the pockets from your two fat quarters. Cut out two pieces of fabric from your heavyweight fabric to make the back of the pockets. I cut each in the shape of a trapezoid with the widest part at 20 inches and the narrow part at 16 inches. Anna from Noodlehead shares a printable template as part of her tutorial.

Cut the thick fusible interfacing to be about 1-inch smaller than your fabric, then cut it into three sections as shown.

With right sides facing each other, sew together one piece of your pocket fabric and one piece of your liner fabric.

Turn the fabric right sides out, then lay the three pieces of interfacing between the two pieces of fabric for the pocket. Press with an iron to fuse the pieces together. Repeat these steps to make the second pocket.

Use your sewing machine to sew the twill tape to the outside of both pockets, about 1-inch from the top.

Put a small dab of hot glue on the back of your metal label holder and place it in the center of the twill tape. Do this for both pockets.

Lay the top pocket out where you would like it to be on the canvas. Run a line of hot glue across the canvas to secure the bottom of the pocket in place.

Put some hot glue on the side of the canvas. Line up the side of the pocket with the back of the canvas and press the pocket into the glue. Repeat for the other side of the pocket.

Apply the bottom pocket in the same way as the top pocket. Wrap any excess fabric around to the back of the canvas and use the staple gun to staple it in place.

Glue another strip of twill tape 1-inch from the top of the canvas, then glue another label holder on top of it.

Write your labels on paper, then slide them into the metal label holder. Add some mail and get organized!

More on getting organized

Pantry envy
3 Tips for closet organization
5 Steps to decluttering your home