Fat Quarter Friday {Wrapping Paper Organizer Tutorial}

I’m so excited about today’s Fat Quarter Friday project. Like, I’m mildly obsessed with it, seriously! It just may be my most favorite thing I have ever made. See, I have been wanting a wrapping station for like… well, for forever. But all the ones I have wanted are just way too pricey for me. So the other day when I was reading my Flea Market Style magazine I saw the most in-genius wrapping paper bin made from an old wooden kitchen stool. Oh yes, I was in LOVE with this idea! It is cheap, practical, and oh so cute! I really should have taken a picture of the stool for you, but truly you should all just go and buy this magazine. It is great! I hardly buy magazines these days, but this one is always a must! So basically their wrapping paper bin was an old kitchen stool turned upside down. On the bottom of the seat part they added casters so that it could easily roll around. Inside of the stool they placed a bag made from fabric to hold all of the wrapping paper. Then they added some little S-hooks to the rungs of the stool to hold scissors in place. Yes, their idea was simply brilliant! BRILLIANT! So I came up with my own design inspired by their wrapping paper bin. My wrapping paper organizer fits my needs perfectly and hope it will fit your wrapping needs as well or at least inspire you to make one that will fit your needs. So enough explaining about this wrapping paper organizer, lets make one!

Wrapping Paper Organizer Tutorial

(allow 2+ hours to make)

Materials Needed:

* Kitchen stool. Keep your eyes open for one at the thrift store or yard sales. I used a stool we had but were no longer using. I actually bought it a few years ago at Walmart for about $20.  

* Fabric: To make two larger bags and two smaller bags like I did you are going to need about 2 1/2 yards of fabric or one $5 twin flat sheet from Walmart. Of course you will need more fabric depending on the size of your stool and the design of your fabric chosen. Read below to see how to determine the amount of fabric needed.

* 4 Casters. You can buy these at any hardware store.

* 2 packages of bias tape or about 4 yards of homemade bias tape. (Of course you could use ribbon as well.) And really the amount needed depends on how long your want your ties to be.

My stool was a light colored wood that I no longer like so I sprayed it white. Now here is how you determine how much fabric you are going to need. Take and lay your stool on its side. Measure from right under the seat part to the bottom of the last rung. Mine measured 18″ long. Now measure the length between the legs at the widest part of the legs. Mine measured 12″ at the widest part. Another way to measure is to lay a piece of fabric down on the table and then lay the stool (on it’s side) on top of that piece of fabric. Then trace onto the fabric right under the seat and then trace on the bottom of the last rung. Then trace on the outer edges of the legs of the stool. Confused? It’s actually really easy and once you see the second picture below you will totally understand what I mean.  See the piece of fabric below? This is the piece that I traced out and cut. You are going to want to cut out a piece of fabric like so as well. Now you are going to need 4 pieces cut like so to make one bag. Which means you are going to need 12 pieces the same exact size to make a gift wrapping organizer just like mine. So measure your piece of fabric or use your measurements to determine the amount of fabric needed. I actually used a $5 sheet from Walmart, but by my calculations I came up with about 2 1/2 yards needed per stool for a stool my size. But to be certain, do the math yourself by your measurements. Cut out your 12 pieces of fabric per your measurements. Take two pieces of fabric and sew right sides together on the sides and the bottom. Leave the top (widest part of bag) open. See picture below. Now you want to square off the edges to give the bag shape. To do this, fold your bag out like shown below.  Now measure in about 1 1/2″ from the tip of the bag. Draw a line across. Sew on the lines you just drew. Trim off the excess fabric. Now your bag has shape. Make 3 more bags like you just did. You will want a total of 4 bags with 4 pieces of fabric left over. The remaining 4 pieces will be cut later to make the smaller bags. Now gather your bias tape. You are going to cut your bias tape or ribbons to the length that you want your ties to be. I cut 6 pieces of bias tape 24″ long. Now top stitch your bias tape shut. Measure in 2″ from the edge of your bag on both sides. This is where you will want to attach your bias tape. Fold bias tape in half. Place folded part of bias tape on top of marks and tack in place. Now take one of your bags and turn it wrong side out. Place right side out bag that has ties inside. Pin both bags together at top. Sew around top while leaving an opening for turning right sides out. Turn bag right side out through opening. Press and top stitch around top edge. Now tie the bag onto the stool. Repeat with the other two bags. Now gather the remaining 4 pieces of fabric and fold in half like below. Cut on folded edge. Now you have 4 pieces of fabric in two different sizes. 4 smaller pieces and 4 bigger pieces. The two different sizes will give you the two different sized bags. So just like before, you are going to make 2 bags from the four pieces of fabric. Just make sure you are sewing the same sized pieces together.

Attach all of the bags to the stool and attach your 4 casters to the seat of the stool. Space them out evenly on the edges of seat. Now gather all of your wrapping supplies and start filling those bags. Use the rungs of the stool without a bag to store your folded tissue paper on. Place your wrapping paper in the middle. Use the smaller pockets to hold your siscors, tape, hole punch, cards, tags, pens, markers or any of your smaller items. And use the larger pockets to hold your ribbons, boxes or bags.

So what do you think? LOVE it? I know I do! Big Thanks to Flea Market Style for the great idea! *Just remember all of my tutorials are for PERSONAL use only! Please feel free to use any of my pictures, just link back and give credit where credit is due, thanks!*

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Posted by & filed under crafts, fat quarter friday, organizer, sewing, Tutorials. This post has 82 comments.

82 thoughts on “Fat Quarter Friday {Wrapping Paper Organizer Tutorial}”

  4. Andrea

    HOLY tipped stool Batman!!! That’s awesome! When you said stool, I was thinking something completely different! As in right side up (how boring) lol and something similar to those gigantic bucket caddy thingies… Well I was on the right track- just “right” side up… lol I bet that is pretty stable too. Now it just needs a parking sign… :) LOVE IT!

    Reply

  7. Georgie

    Wowsa! This is so smart! I have been struggling with ways to store wrapping supplies for years, and this is the best idea I have seen yet. I will be copying this soon, and visiting your blog often! Thanks so much. (PS, I pinned this!)

    Reply

  10. Eliseo Woloszczak

    Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is magnificent blog. A great read. I will definitely be back.

    Reply

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  16. Keri

    This is a great idea. I’m going to make one before Christmas time just to get all my wrapping supplies organized. I love the casters so I can wheel it around and back into the closet. Have you thought about adding a dowel rod between the ‘feet’ to hold spools of ribbon?

    Reply

  17. Brittany

    I love this, especially the wheels. The little plastic bin I have is not cutting it I think this may be a project in the near future, I pinned it for later reference. Thanks

    Reply

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  20. Olga@StardustDecorStyle

    This is so clever! How did you ever came up with this idea? I’d love to feature your project on my blog. Or rather… what if you write a guest post? I host a guest blogger every Friday and I’d be happy if you did! Just let me know.
    Love, Olga

    Reply

  22. Diddie

    What a great idea! I have re-painted 2 step stools that I “garbage hauled” from the sidewalk and frankly, now have too many stools, since I already had a couple! This would be great for one of them! I bhope I find more so I can give away to friends after doing this!!!!
    Thanks for sharing,
    Diddie @ citicasita.blogspot.com

    Reply

  23. jodie hickman

    This is totally awesome! If you do not mind, I am going to made myself one out of leftover laminated cotton. Probably going to be a mismatch of fabrics, but I have been waiting for an idea that would not take up much room and would accommodate all supplies. THANK YOU.
    When I get around to making I will send you a picture. It may be a while I have a lot on my to do list. :)

    Reply

  25. Roberta

    Love it, I have stools I bought at a yard sale. I am going to try and make it. You have great instructions.
    Thanks

    Reply

  27. Beth

    I could see this as a teacher stool. Turn it so it is right side up, only put pockets on three sides and leave off the wheels.

    Reply

  28. Kelley Dever

    I love this idea. I also love the fact that you put your website on the photos. I saw this on pinterest and it linked to some asian website that I couldn’t read but saw your copyright mark on the bottom of the photo and was able to track it back to you!!

    Reply

  29. MDunn

    I think it would be neat as well if you fixed a dowel, or a small tension rod to two of the legs that you could hold the ribbon on that way and make it a bit easier to use. Unless you have a lot of ribbons…. I really like this, I accually have a stool that the seat came off and is in need of repair, but alas, I don’t know where I would put it if I did fix it so it sits broken. Thank you for giving me a reason to save the stool, and have somewhere nice to put my wrapping paper.

    Reply

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  38. Janice

    Super, fantastic, so much better than anything in the store. I have something but it isn’t long enough for some rolls of paper and I sometimes have too many rolls to fit into the box.

    Reply

  42. lynnmarieh

    Love this idea. I’m thinking the legs and pockets of some old blue jeans would work on an old well-used red stool I have. Could be a cool toy/book/doll holder too.

    Reply

  43. carol

    I used your idea, but instead of making the bags for the sides I went to the thrift store and bought bags. Got 5 bags for $1.00 detached the handles and reattached them over the rungs of the chair. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

  45. Kristen

    I’m confused regarding the 4 big bags you made. 2 go on the sides, where do the other 2 go? One side has 2 small bags, and one is left for tissue paper. Please help! I really wanna make this!

    Reply

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  54. Annie

    This is awesome! Thanks for the great tutorial. I’ve been looking for a sewing project for my daughter and me. You make it very easy!

    Reply

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  61. Mary

    I don’t sew …. who would be willing to sew the fabric pieces for me so I can have this? I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. I NEED NEED NEED this. Pretty please?

    Reply

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  66. Micheli

    Hi, I am brazilian and I loved your tips! Congratulations! I will share with my mother, I am sure that she will love a lot too! Bye!

    Reply

  69. Jodi

    I was thinking you could also use this for storing your cleaning gear. Making more of he smaller bags instead of the bigger ones, and use them for cleaners, cleaning cloths, rags and/or sponges, and put your brooms, mops and swiffers and telescopic dusters in between the rungs. Take the bottom and top off a coffee can, make four holes in the sides, the run a piece of string or leather thong through one hole and then to each of the legs. You can put the mops etc in this which should hang in the center, keeping your poles together while leaving room for more small bags in the inside of the stool’s legs as well, if one felt they needed more storage space in addition to the outside pouches.

    Reply

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  71. Jen B

    For those of you who don’t sew, you can use drawstring laundry bags that can be purchased at any Wal-Mart or Dollar Store.

    Reply

  73. Melissa Weist

    Please tell me the color of the paint on the wall!!! Gorgeous. Just what I want for my front bathroom! Failed twice already and soon to paint it a third time. (yeah I notice the fine details in the background)

    Reply

  74. Christine

    Well, I can’t wait to make mine. I have a stool just waiting to have something done to it and lots of colorful material that needs a project. Wow, maybe I will make more than one and possible take them to a craft sale. Thanks for such a wonderful idea.

    Reply

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