I had a couple problems with my work space.

Problem 1 is that I believe strongly in “out of sight, out of mind.” Meaning that, if I have a project going, it needs to be out and visible, so that I remember to work on it. Problem 2 is that I always have multiple projects. Add 1 + 2 and I had Problem 3: PILES of PROJECTS ALL OVER MY WORK SPACE! Which ultimately led to Problem 4, no room to actually work on anything, and Problem 5, projects getting buried under each other which ultimately leads us back to Problem 1.

And there you have it – the death spiral of my piles of projects. Please see photographic evidence:

(Please note, this is actually a TON more organized than normal…)

How to solve this? Why POCKETS, of course! Project pockets!

I decided on my dimensions based on the length of my work table (5 ft/60″) and approximately the size of a folder, or slightly larger (12.4″ Wide x 14″ High). Luckily, I had an old bed sheet that was 62″ at one end, so I simply measured down from the already finished edge to figure out my pockets, then cut the sheet. I folded the sheet up and stitched down the edges. I created a seam for my raw edge, but left that end open, creating one huge pocket. Then, I simply stitched 4 lines and created 5 pockets, all in a row.

The fun part of this project was doing the eyelets. I bought an eyelet kit for under $2 at my favorite local fabric store. Eyelets are like small grommets. I wanted them in the fabric so when I hung the pockets and put heavy project materials in them, the fabric wouldn’t tear. It was ridiculously easy! You basically mark where your eyelet will be, cut a very tiny circle, shove the eyelet through, place right side down on the anvil, place the stem against the eyelet sticking out, and then hammer away! The force of the hammer and the stem split the eyelet open and down, making a complete seal. Check it out!

Now I could hang my pockets on the wall. Here they are:

I created some simple but cute labels for each project pocket using recycled manila filing folders and some bright sharpie colors. Each project has a name and a deadline (VERY important!).

Whew! SO much better! Basically, the project pockets are great because they address all the problems:

1) My projects are still visible, so I can see what I need to work on AND now, with the labels, I have set deadlines for them.

2) I only made 5 pockets. This happened to work out with my dimensions of pockets/sheet/how many projects I currently have, but I think it’s good to maybe limit myself to 5 major projects at one time. Hopefully, this will keep me more focused. (True, I have a couple projects that don’t fit into these pockets (gardening is tricky like that), but still…)

3) No more piles taking up space! I can actually work on projects on my craft table! Look at all that lovely space:

Projects pocketed!