Power Cord Case

Way, way back in my pre-mommy days, I worked in a Japanese office organizing training for managers in our subsidiaries abroad. This job meant a lot of travel, both within Japan and abroad. I would either jump on the Shinkansen or an airplane probably a few times a month for day trips to Tokyo or sometimes for training sessions lasting up to two weeks. This meant that I had to be organized about making sure I remembered all of my power cords - camera, cell phone, computer, video camera, etc. Every once in a while, I would forget a cord or I would lose it in my luggage creating a gigantic panic. Nothing awful ever happened, but it was always a source of stress.

Ages ago, my "adopted" little brother got an amazing job at Pepsi Co. and I imagined that travelling would be part of his job. If not part of his job, then most definitely part of his private life. I wanted to make a gift for him and decided on a case for his power cords, essentially giving him the gift of less stress. I looked online and found a case that I quite liked and decided to follow that tutorial, with a few minor adjustments of course.

I started with the fabrics wrong sides together in the general shape of the case, just so I could have a better idea of what it would look like. Then I ironed the bottom pocket crease.

Then I took the fabrics apart, matched them right sides together, and sewed the top of the pocket together.

Then I flipped that right side out, ironed it and top stitched.

Then I double folded the edges so that the outside fabric would be the outline of the case when it was fully opened. Before doing that, however, I cut away at the pocket so there was a bit less bulk.

Once that was all folded, ironed and pinned, I top stitched the sides and top.

Look at that pretty mitered corner!

I didn't know what cords my little brother would be using this for, so I couldn't attach a button like in the tutorial. Instead I sewed a twill string to the inside of the bag on one of the edges.

Then using my cords as a general guide, I sewed lines up from the bottom to the top of the pocket to create a bunch of mini-pockets for each cord. I varied the width of each pocket, one is even small enough for a set of headphones - cute!!

All my little brother has to do is fill it with cords, flip the top cover down,

roll it up and tie the string around. Done! Stress-free travel at its finest. Just kidding. I don't think stress-free travel is possible, but I hope this will help a bit. Enjoy your travels, Hermes!!!