Fabric coupon holder tutorial: Buy 1/Make 1 Free

Introducing my fresh, new, handmade coupon holder/organizer created with supplies I already had on hand. Now brace yourself. Below is "the before" that I actually purchased a long time ago...

Admittedly, it was embarrassing to pull this out of my purse. Nothing to do with the coupons themselves (pleeeze!), but just look. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I purchased a cow coupon holder, but apparently it was the most appealing fabric (to me) at the time...hmmmm. Along with the questionable fabric, it is showing signs of heavy wear. The point of the before: I based my new and improved coupon holder on the old by taking the cow apart to see how he was made...an inexpensive way to get a pattern for anything you might want to replicate.

The fabric I used was a sample upholstery square purchased at a yard sale over the summer. If you can get your hands on these, they are perfect for smallish projects. If you can't find them by chance at yard sales, befriend an interior designer or upholstery shop for last season's samples.

materials:
heavy fabric (1- 9" x 11" piece; 2- 2-1/2" x 4" pieces)

3/4" wide Velcro (2- 9" pieces)

1/2" wide double fold bias tape in a coordinating color (approx. 47 inches total)

sewing machine

iron

(as usual please refer to pictures if my nontechnical sewing language becomes confusing.)

directions:

1. Attach two 9" pieces of 3/4" wide Velcro to the 9" x 11" piece of fabric. The Velcro will go on the 9" top and bottom with the sticky on the good side of the fabric and the fuzzy on the back side of the fabric. (I used iron on Velcro and followed package directions. I also sewed the Velcro to make sure it was extra secure.) After the Velcro is attached, place this piece aside for a moment.

2. Cut two 2 1/2" x 4" rectangles from fabric for the sides of the coupon holder. Sew double fold bias tape to the 4" top and bottom of each.

3. Starting from the bottom right corner of the Velcroed fabric, sew double fold bias tape (approx. 31" long) to the edge sandwiching in your first side.

3+. See how the sides are getting sandwiched? The top and bottom of the side pieces remain unstitched...only the sides of the sides will be attached to the Velcro rectangle. Sides attach at bottom of Velcroed main piece and then 5 inches in from there.

4. Continue to sew the bias tape up the right side of the main piece, across the top and then back down the left side sandwiching in the second side like the right. The only edge that will not have bias tape is the sticky Velcro-edged front.

And that's it. You should now have a coupon holder that looks sort of like this one and opens and closes like so. Moooove over cow coupon organizer (oh come on...how could I resist??! : )