Mayfly: boring but practical

boring but practical

Good morning! I made these car organizers last night and thought today that they were almost too boring to even talk about. But they were so fast, easy and seem to work so well that I changed my mind. A little practicality never hurt anyone, did it?

They hang over the top of the seat, and the head rest thingies hold them up by slipping through large button holes. There's an elastic band that wraps around the seat at the bottom which you can barely see from the front. I put a row of large pockets on the bottom and a row of smaller pockets up top. There's even a little velcro loop to hold their, ahem, DVD earphones. I know, I know. I always said my children would NOT watch t.v. in the car. But cut me some slack, people- we're taking a 17 hour car trip, for the love of Pete.

Why didn't I make these ages ago?!

Posted by Alicia on July 25, 2007 10:08 AM | Permalink

Comments

Wow, I'm so glad you shared these, they're awesome! I know a couple kids who would love these.

Posted by: Sarah | July 25, 2007 11:14 AM

where are you going? and how do you fit a tv in a subaru? i thought they only worked in ginormous vehicles. lol.

the organizers are just ... so awesome, you smartie.

Posted by: Grace | July 25, 2007 11:20 AM

Delurking to say...You should sell these and I should be your first customer! Love reading your blog!

Posted by: Dawn | July 25, 2007 11:29 AM

I wouldn't call them boring at all ... brilliant maybe, but never boring :-)

Posted by: Shan | July 25, 2007 11:32 AM

oh man, i totally need to make some of these.

Posted by: capello | July 25, 2007 11:41 AM

Those are wonderful!! I've seen them in magazines for a lot of money..more than I would pay anyway.

Maybe I should make one of these...hmmm??

Posted by: Lynn | July 25, 2007 11:57 AM

fantastic! worth the share - thank you

Posted by: tracy | July 25, 2007 12:17 PM

Oh Alicia, I have been wanting to make one of these for a long time [I'm getting tired of all the books + toys on the floor of the car and have you seen the ones they sell? u-g-l-y!] I think practical is good, but these are definitely not boring!!! Thanks for the inspiration!!!

Posted by: sally | July 25, 2007 12:35 PM

Such a good idea. Just this morning I moved my gifted sagging Eddie Bauer plastic one to the BACK BACK cargo area for the not so much used stuff. Maybe the big boy would be more entertained if I made a nice one like this...and it would look so much better!
Good work...I appreciate the practical stuff too.

Posted by: Beth | July 25, 2007 1:15 PM

Totally great idea, and if you had seen the inside of my car the other day you would agree I need to make some too!

Have fun on the trip!

Posted by: Rachel | July 25, 2007 1:28 PM

Fantastic in its simplicity. Love it. I've been wanting to make one for my car, which is constantly a disaster zone. Do you have tips to share with a novice sewer?

Posted by: Alicia | July 25, 2007 2:02 PM

These are great! We avoided the DVD in the car for a while, but we'll be taking a three-day road trip (each way) this winter, so I think a DVD for the car would be a wise purchase.

Posted by: amy h | July 25, 2007 2:14 PM

you smart cookie, you. and i will totally cut you slack on the dvd. we have one and only use it on long road trips. i think 17 hours fits that bill. have fun!

Posted by: erin | July 25, 2007 2:33 PM

hey, I love those. But I am very practical-- I love systems. I'd cover my walls with those if I could.

Posted by: Courtney | July 25, 2007 3:04 PM

great idea! i so need a little practicality.

Posted by: estea | July 25, 2007 3:26 PM

Very cool...and NOT boring. This is my life now. A practical car organizer is the highlight of my day! Nice work. I really love it!

And I truly believe that a portable dvd player is a necessity in this day and age.

Posted by: miguette | July 25, 2007 3:39 PM

17 hours?!?!? EEEEgads. Good luck mama. :)

I tried (and failed!) at making one of those last summer for Keely. I ended up just putting a tote bag around the headrest. Classy is my middle name. You pulled this off beautifully! It looks perfect! Well done Alicia.

Posted by: Angela | July 25, 2007 3:49 PM

Alicia, those are SO great. Aside from the functionalness of them, they LOOK so nice!
Wow!
Good job!

Posted by: Krista | July 25, 2007 4:03 PM

17 hours?In a car with kids?Are you mad?I think the DVD's will be overlooked on the grounds of insanity! xxx

Posted by: Kristy | July 25, 2007 4:22 PM

17 hours? Yeah, you need all the ammunition you can get.

We have a commercially made one of these in our car, and it doesn't work nearly as well, not to mention it looks ugly. These: perfect.

Posted by: Megan | July 25, 2007 4:28 PM

love it! great job!

Posted by: Alissa | July 25, 2007 7:53 PM

I love how they turned out. I've been thinking about making something like this for my van, but my kids are still in car seats and can't reach the seat very well. so i think I'll have to wait until they're a bit older or come up with something they can reach. would be nice to cut down on some of the stuff on the floor. 17 hour road trip. We used a dvd player for a six hour trip, so don't you feel bad. :00

Posted by: Robyn | July 25, 2007 8:23 PM

SO not boring. these are fantastic. and the little elastic strap is so necessary. i bought one of these a few years ago, and it didn't have a strap. so it just hung straight down off the back of the chair and got kicked around and in the way.
this is fabulous.
(DVDs on a 17 hour trip is totally allowed.)

Posted by: mollly | July 25, 2007 8:54 PM

oh, wishing i could make time to whip some up before we leave friday morn...great work.

Posted by: kristin | July 25, 2007 11:00 PM

Oh no! These are NOT boring at all. I was in a waiting room today flicking through some mags & came across something similar that also zipped up into a bag! I spent ages memorizing them to put on my 'if I ever get to sew again' list. So...very cool in my book...

Posted by: Bex | July 26, 2007 6:04 AM

They look great. Very clever.

Posted by: Kristine | July 26, 2007 9:00 AM

My poor car needs these badly.

Posted by: Ali | July 26, 2007 12:03 PM

not boring at all. these are wonderful!

Posted by: shari | July 26, 2007 6:39 PM

Are you crazy? 17 hours, wow.

Posted by: Mama Urchin | July 26, 2007 8:54 PM

LOVE them. Can I have six to go, please? :-)

Enjoy your trip.

Posted by: lera | July 27, 2007 3:04 PM

Delurking to say hello and add to the raves of this fantastic project! I love it. We just returned from an 11 hour trip and I would have so loved to have four of these in my minivan! The activity tote bags were great, but it all ends up on the floor ... maybe with this I wouldn't have colored pencils and coloring pages all over my floor. Please consider posting a mini tutorial on how to make these. Thanks for sharing!

Posted by: Kate | July 29, 2007 10:34 AM

Hello, this is my first time visiting your blog - I'll definitely be back, you have some beautiful things here to look at.
I just love this little treasure for the car, definitely not boring!! Can I ask where you found the pattern for this? Or did you make it up as you went?
Have a lovely week
Melx

Posted by: Mel Goosell | July 29, 2007 7:55 PM

They're awesome!!

Posted by: Steph | July 30, 2007 8:39 PM

this is great. I tried to make one some months ago, but it is too floppy. I got bored and didn't redesign my design. I like yours alot.

http://tsktsk.typepad.com/tsk_tsk_design_and_illust/2007/02/messy_car.html

Posted by: Anonymous | August 1, 2007 5:09 AM

sorry that was me in the last post, I forgot to put my details in

Posted by: tiel | August 1, 2007 5:10 AM

Need to make car holders. Now.

Posted by: Angel Jem | August 2, 2007 3:32 PM

These are fabulous! I definitely need a set. Great photos of your vacation, glad you had such a great time.

Posted by: kathy | August 8, 2007 11:18 PM