I am a novice sewer who recently just bought my first ever sewing machine, so I wanted to try my hands at making something simple. Recently, I thought of creating my own piece for my son Oliver to encourage him to read his favourite books before bedtime.
When we bought the Flexa double-decker bed for him, I came across some very pretty bed pockets which can be hung by the bed to let the children store their stuff.
Don't these Flexa bed pockets look so adorable? I am sure they do, but they came with a more "adorable" price tag of $100+ for a set of 3!
So this set me thinking that maybe I can try my hand at making my very own bed pocket for my son at a much lower cost.
I used denim material for the back, which I got from Daiso for $2, and for the front pocket, I used a cute owl canvas-like material, which I bought from People's Park Complex near Chinatown area for around $10/yard. I only used a small fraction of it for this project.
Though I really liked the curved ends of the Flexa bed pockets (top picture), I decided to stick to a rectangular shape, as I intend to let Oliver keep his bedtime storybook in it, so a rectangular shape would make more sense than the curved edged.
Besides, it will be less challenging for a novice sewer like me!
Materials Needed:
Velcro (to sew on the straps)
Denim cloth (for the back)
Owl canvas cloth (for the outside bed pocket)
Pink cloth (optional, for the inside of the bed pocket)
Scissors
Batting (for the denim)
Piece of hard cardboard (not shown in the picture. this is for the denim cloth)
Interfacing (for the owl pocket)
First, I put the storybook on the denim cloth to use as a guide on how wide I want the back to be.
Cut out two pieces of cloth (same size), one for the front and one for the back.
Also cut out two strips from the denim cloth to be used to hang the bed pocket on the bed.
Side stitch to neaten the edges of the strips.
For the backing, line the pretty sides of the denim on the outside, and place the batting inside each side, lastly lay the hard cardboard in the middle.
Place the front of the two strips inside the front of the denim then sew the denim up around all 4 sides.
On the other end of the two strips, sew in the velcro. Sew in the other side of the velco on the back of the denim cloth.
For the front of the bed pocket, cut out the owl cloth and make sure it is bigger than the storybook, but smaller than the denim back.
I also cut out two strips of rectangles from the owl cloth, to be used for the sides, rather than making it flat, so that the pocket can expand a bit more.
I decided to line the inside of the pocket with this pink fat quarter cloth I found lying around, just to make it look nicer.
But this is optional since the inside can't really be seen.
Place the pretty sides of the owl cloth and pink cloth on the outside, then sew the sides with the interfacing in the middle (just to make the pocket a bit studier).
Next, fold the two strips of owl cloth in half lengthwise, then sew each to the sides of the front pocket.
Lastly, sew in the side of the two strips onto the front of the denim cloth.
There you have it! My very own Flexa-inspired bed pocket sewn by a newbie like myself.
I am not joking when I said that I am new to sewing. This is REALLY one of my first few attempts at sewing.
How I started making this is simply by looking at the picture of the original Flexa bed pocket, and then cutting out my own patterns to make a simpler and much cheaper version.
I probably only spent $5 in total on all the materials.
I am pretty sure anyone out there can make nicer ones than me.
As you can see, my son not only put his favourite storybook in there, he also put his favourite Ninja Turtle craft box in the bed pocket, and it still fits!
When we bought the Flexa double-decker bed for him, I came across some very pretty bed pockets which can be hung by the bed to let the children store their stuff.
Don't these Flexa bed pockets look so adorable? I am sure they do, but they came with a more "adorable" price tag of $100+ for a set of 3!
So this set me thinking that maybe I can try my hand at making my very own bed pocket for my son at a much lower cost.
I used denim material for the back, which I got from Daiso for $2, and for the front pocket, I used a cute owl canvas-like material, which I bought from People's Park Complex near Chinatown area for around $10/yard. I only used a small fraction of it for this project.
Though I really liked the curved ends of the Flexa bed pockets (top picture), I decided to stick to a rectangular shape, as I intend to let Oliver keep his bedtime storybook in it, so a rectangular shape would make more sense than the curved edged.
Besides, it will be less challenging for a novice sewer like me!
Materials Needed:
Velcro (to sew on the straps)
Denim cloth (for the back)
Owl canvas cloth (for the outside bed pocket)
Pink cloth (optional, for the inside of the bed pocket)
Scissors
Batting (for the denim)
Piece of hard cardboard (not shown in the picture. this is for the denim cloth)
Interfacing (for the owl pocket)
First, I put the storybook on the denim cloth to use as a guide on how wide I want the back to be.
Cut out two pieces of cloth (same size), one for the front and one for the back.
Also cut out two strips from the denim cloth to be used to hang the bed pocket on the bed.
Side stitch to neaten the edges of the strips.
For the backing, line the pretty sides of the denim on the outside, and place the batting inside each side, lastly lay the hard cardboard in the middle.
Place the front of the two strips inside the front of the denim then sew the denim up around all 4 sides.
On the other end of the two strips, sew in the velcro. Sew in the other side of the velco on the back of the denim cloth.
For the front of the bed pocket, cut out the owl cloth and make sure it is bigger than the storybook, but smaller than the denim back.
I also cut out two strips of rectangles from the owl cloth, to be used for the sides, rather than making it flat, so that the pocket can expand a bit more.
I decided to line the inside of the pocket with this pink fat quarter cloth I found lying around, just to make it look nicer.
But this is optional since the inside can't really be seen.
Place the pretty sides of the owl cloth and pink cloth on the outside, then sew the sides with the interfacing in the middle (just to make the pocket a bit studier).
Next, fold the two strips of owl cloth in half lengthwise, then sew each to the sides of the front pocket.
Lastly, sew in the side of the two strips onto the front of the denim cloth.
There you have it! My very own Flexa-inspired bed pocket sewn by a newbie like myself.
I am not joking when I said that I am new to sewing. This is REALLY one of my first few attempts at sewing.
How I started making this is simply by looking at the picture of the original Flexa bed pocket, and then cutting out my own patterns to make a simpler and much cheaper version.
I probably only spent $5 in total on all the materials.
I am pretty sure anyone out there can make nicer ones than me.
As you can see, my son not only put his favourite storybook in there, he also put his favourite Ninja Turtle craft box in the bed pocket, and it still fits!
I am pretty pleased with the results for my first attempt. I will definitely continue making a few more bed pockets to add on to this.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope this gives you some inspiration to make your own bed pocket. :)
Thank you for stopping by and I hope this gives you some inspiration to make your own bed pocket. :)
