See It — Like It — Be Inspired By It! [Part 2: The Result]

My new Personal Project Portfolio...

After considering the basic elements of the three YouTube tutorials that I described last week in part one of this post, my plans for my personal project portfolio came down to the following specifications:

1) Overall closed size of 11" wide x 13.5" high x 2" deep, 

2) three zippered file pockets bound "book style" to the center spine, 

3) two open vinyl slip pockets on the interior front and back covers, with openings accessed from the inside (i.e., not from the outer edge where things can slip out), and 

4) an adjustable, easy to manipulate closure.

As you can see, the finished portfolio is bound with bias binding. (I used an 18" square of some Lily and Loom fabric to make my own using this method.) Fabric backed by fusible fleece forms the interior and exterior panels.

Front view...

I had already decided that I wasn't going to make three zippered pockets out of fabric, so my first step was to brave the retail world and browse the stationery aisle at my local dollar store. I knew I'd be able to find something there to meet my needs, but I honestly didn't expect such near perfection.

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I've long used the legal-sized nylon zippered portfolios that Dollarama has in their continuous inventory, so was hoping that they carried something similar in a letter size, preferably transparent. I found these (they're 12" x 10"), which while not transparent, more than suffice in being able to be seen through. They're made out of a firm poly mesh — they actually feel very much like a soft version of a bug screen — and come in a variety of stripe-y colour schemes.

Mesh zippered folders from Dollarama...

The inset image is from an eBay listing, selling essentially the same item (albeit with a zippier zipper pull) for $6.38 plus $6.00 shipping (USD). Dollarama was selling these for $1.25 each (CAD). 

Score!

In the inspiration tutorial for the Envelope Journal, I saw how well the book binding technique could be applied in this situation. It would be fairly easy to cut some tiny holes into the bottom of the mesh zippered folders and then string some cord through them and the organizer to bind them together. (The gold-toned elastic cord shown here is also from Dollarama; it cost me $2. Even at that, there are certainly less pricey options to consider.)

Dollarama comes to the rescue again with elastic cording...

With the decision to pound holes into the spine, of course, I had to install eyelets.

Project requires twelve sets of small eyelets for the spine...

These are 3/16" eyelets. This box came with silver, gold and black sets. I used twelve of them.

Back view...

Once eyelets came to mind, I decided that they would also be the basis for the adjustable closure for the portfolio. (These two are larger than the ones I used on the spine; I originally thought that I might use ribbon for this loop.)

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For the vinyl pockets on the front and back interior, I looked into my existing "vinyl stash" and found a couple of pieces that made the grade; they're from an old bedding bag.

Vinyl pocket on inside front cover...

Had I needed to buy some new vinyl, my first stop would be Dollarama again. They typically carry vinyl tablecloths or shower curtains that would do the job.

Vinyl pocket on inside back cover...

Interestingly enough, both pieces of vinyl had pockets on them already (where the insert card identifying the bedding used to be held), making them doubly useful. It's virtually impossible to make out, but it's a square shape right in the middle.

By the way, you can see that the pockets are large enough for regular file folders and even the waxcloth folder that's been sitting on my desk for five years now.

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I said last week that this is to be a tax time paper organizer for me, but it can easily be a sewing organizer to take on the road or a multiple WIP folder.

Here it is stuffed with fabric, thread and other notions.

A portfolio made out of fabric has the capacity to expand...

You see why I chose to have the button and loop closure instead of a tab with a snap or something similarly fixed that might be hard to close?

It can hold a lot!

In the above pic, you can see items in the two smaller pockets that were already part of my vinyl pieces.

Want to sew up a personal project portfolio of your own? Everything that you need to make it has been outlined above. The more experienced among you are likely quite capable of DIY-ing the project just from the photos; for the rest of you, gather your supplies and come back in a couple of weeks for some basic instructions.

'Til next...