This is the solution to cat/toddler tp destruction: the toliet paper cozy.
It's been so popular around here, that several of our friends with felines have asked for one, and even great grandma enjoys her very own tp cozy.
Very simple to make. I made this one when I was just learning to sew about a year and a half ago, and has a few techniques that were useful to know when I began to make book tote bags.
For fabrics, I 've found that the outside should be a heavier fabric in order to keep the holder's shape as the tp gets pulled in and put back in and a lighter colour for the liner so the tp flakies don't show as bad.
I use a 1/2" seam allowance. The measurements here should easily fit a double roll. However, if you use swankier brand then I do that prides itself on thickness, I suggest enlarging the measurement by an inch or so.
To begin, cut:
one 16" x 8.5" of outside fabric
one 16" x 8.5" of lining fabric
one 7" x 5.5" of outside fabric
one 7" x 5.5" of lining fabric
(but don't be like me - iron your fabrics!)Take the outside fabric and fold the larger piece along the longer side, wrong side out. Stitch sides to make a basic bag shap.
Open up the bottom corners and sew like you would if you were making a tote.
Repeat for lining bag.
Fold over and press top raw edges of the two bags. Use a roll of toliet paper here to measure an appropriate depth.
Machine (or hand) baste the liner bag to the outside bag along folder corners (bottom to bottom) so they won't separate every time you pull out your tp.
Invert the outside bag around the lining and you have your tp cozy part. (Do not top-stitch the bags together yet.)
To sew the loop that attaches to your roll holder (bar?), align wrong sides together of the smaller pieces and stitch along the longer sides of the rectangle (to make a little tube). Turn inside out and press.
The raw edges are to be tucked between the lining and outside bags. Pin the loop into place. While you're at it, pin the bags together at edges. Top stitch all around the outside of the bags.
Posts
16 comments:
Ha ha that is awesome!
Let's try this again.
My basement, this picture taken an hour ago:
my basement
Those are Blackbird Jr's "roads". He made them while I was putting stuff up for grabs on freecycle.
Blackbird Pie: Wow. Wish I had a tute for a time machine.
Btw, my 3 yr old just told me she thinks the picture is 'awesome' and think's Jr's a genius.
uh-oh.
My personal philosophy is that if it takes less time to clean up than they are occupied for, it's worth it. The cleanup for that was less than 5 minutes and it kept him busy for half an hour. Half an hour of peace and quiet.. I might encourage him to do it again later. We then put all the ripped up paper in a basket in the bathroom for wiping noses. Everyone wins!
The only time no one wins is when Jr puts a whole roll into the toilet, unrolled. There's a limit to reusing.
Great idea! I can easily see this adapted to be a "waste basket" for my threads and stuff next time I pull out the sewing machine... I'll just have to figure out a way to hang it off the kitchen table... Any ideas appreciated! :)
Good idea! I've just taped lunch sized brown bags to my sewing table, but for something a bit prettier, this little baggie thing would work if you used a long strip of material instead of a loop and used something heavy (like a sewing machine) to keep the strip held down and in place. Or if you could sew in a heavy weight, just as long as you didn't put anything in that was too heavy.
Merci pour ce tutorial
Thanks for all our tuto!!!
Nice idea & cute tute! I added a link to it from my blog. Let me know if this is not OK!
http://basilbush.blogspot.com/2008/01/tp-tute.html
You are most welcome anon!
Kate, linking is totally okay! I'm glad you like the tute :)
I think this is great, and I don't have any cats! I do have a 2 yr old, but so far she leaves the toilet paper alone (knock on wood). I should make one of these for my hubby though. He seems incapable of putting the new roll on the holder when he uses the last of the old roll. Maybe he could be persuaded to put the new roll in the pouch. It would sure look nicer than having the roll sit on the back of the toilet.
hippiekender, my husband is the same way. Except our TP sits on the edge of the tub, which I think is supremely tacky. I'm going to have to make one of these to keep our 4 cats and 1 monster/dog out of it.
I actually hate toliet paper rolls (people take much more tp than they need when they just have to give it a bat and half the roll falls into your hand) so I used to just leave the roll sitting out someplace too (me bad!) Okay, I'm sorta lazy too.
But my dh hates HATES the roll left out and when I first started living with him we had a roomate who used to accidently knock the tp that I left out into the toliet or the bathtub full of water nearly every day. Between the two of us, we nearly drove dh around the (u) bend.
So, this is a nice compromise for us. Certainly better than trying to divide the household in two and figure out visitation rights for our kids =D
Hooray! I just whipped one up for using as a garbage for my sewing threads/scraps. Fantastic idea! Thanks so much!!
I just came across this today and think this is such a great idea! I may have to whip up a couple of these for my brother & sister-in-law who have 3 toddlers (almost 3 year old twins and a 1 1/2 year old!) and have to hide the TP so the kids don't spin it off the roll!
I was just trying to figure out what to do with the tp - my son is 18months old and takes FOREVER on the potty, and while he does his thing he unrolls the tp.
Off to go make one....thanks!
Post a Comment