Passport organizer

This little organizer that can hold a passport and some travel essentials was inspired by a post on Dollar Store Crafts. I changed up the pattern a bit because I wanted to make sure the passport could not fall out! After some scribbling and crossing out, this is what I came up with: a folded organizer with a passport pocket, credit card pockets and a flap closure that goes all the way around and is secured with a snap button.

So, the materials are

2 fat quarters

1 piece of stiff fusible interfacing, 7" x 11"

7 inch zipper

matching thread

I started out by preparing the inner pockets: doublefolding and hemming the side that would not be sewn into the side seams. For the passport flap, I basted on the small pocket before hemming the flap. For the closure, I sewed the side seams and topstitched along both sides and the U-shaped end.Then I basted all the pockets onto the lining to keep them in place. For the credit card pockets, I sewed down 2 lines to make the compartments.

 

Next I determined where the zipper should to. It needs to be far enough from the credit card pockets that the cards won´t stick out over the zipper, and far enough from the center line so that the zipper won´t make folding the organizer difficult. For a nicer finished I topstitched the zipper in place.

 

Now to the outside of the organizer: first I ironed on the interfacing, then I stitched the closure into place. It should be nice and centered, and the stitching should end about 1/4" before the side seam.This is the seam allowance for the side seam that the  closure should not be sewn to.

 I pinned back the flap to it would not get caught in the side seam.

This is all the prep work, so I joined the outer and lining right sides together and sewed all around, making sure to backstitch over the zipper. The zipper needs to be left open so that the organizer can be turned right side out. After turning, I sewed on a snap closure to keep everything securely together.

And this is the end result: 

 After taking the pictures, I sewed a seam down the center crease to ease folding, and to give the zippered pocket a smaller compartment. I think this would be a nice gift idea for anyone who likes to travel and I´ll probably make a few more for stocking stuffers!