Hanging Pocket Tool Holder: Vintage Sewing Tutorial

Make A Tool Holder For The Kitchen

It’s handy to put mother’s name on a few of the more ordinary type shop tools and keep them in the kitchen. Then, when she needs a screw driver, hammer, or a pair of pliers, she knows they are in a convenient place. Also, if the tool is nearby, she won’t be so likely to put off a chore requiring a tool.

Fumbling for tools kept in a “catch all” kitchen drawer sometimes can be annoying. Better, why not make a simple tool holder and hang it inside a cupboard, broom closet, or basement stairway?

Almost any light-weight canvas or drill is suitable. Sport denim is especially nice because the brighter colors available add to the general color scheme of your kitchen.

Before making mine, I laid out all the tools I wanted in the holder. Then, after deciding where I could keep it (and consequently how large the outer dimensions would be) I cut a piece of brown wrapping paper the same size. On this, I arranged the tools until I had them placed as I wanted them.

To make my holder, I bought one-half yard of 42-inch width blue sport denim. Splitting this lengthwise, I had two pieces 18 x 21 inches. As 18 inches was the width, I cut from the other half of the material two strips 18 x 5 1/2 inches. These were to serve as the pockets on the tool holder.

Because my kitchen is blue and yellow, I used yellow bias tape for trimming. I bound both top and bottom edges of the upper pocket and the top edge only of the lower pocket.

Next, the bottom and sides of the lower pocket were sewn to the bottom and side edges of the tool holder. At a distance 1 3/4 inches above this, I pinned the lower and side edges of the upper pocket.

Then I sewed vertical lines to make individual columns the proper width to hold particular tools. To decide where the vertical lines would go, I went back to the brown paper pattern covered with tools.

I had two hammers which extended below the bottom of the top pocket. To accommodate these, I left the bottom of the upper pocket open in that particular column, allowing the hammer handle to extend into the corresponding column in the lower pocket. A horizontal stitching in this column in the lower pocket approximately three inches from the top served as a base to support the weight of the hammer.

Similarly, for tiny jewelers’ screw drivers, I made horizontal stitchings two or three inches below the top of the upper pocket. With your own imagination, you can accommodate any specialties you may want to keep in your tool holder.

After all the pocket stitching was finished, I bound the entire outer edge with yellow bias tape, attached three bias loops along the top of the holder, and hung the completed piece on cup hooks in the broom closet.

You’ll be glad you made a tool holder for yourself, and it’s a novelty gift to make for any homemaker friend.

Source: The WorkBasket; March, 1959

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