Diaper Bag Organizer

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a little on the obsessive side with organization.  I want a place for everything, and everything in its place.  Our little boy's diaper bag is no exception. 

 

For our daughter, I purchased this bag.

It came with 2 bags, and a thermal lined pouch.  All the reviews for it are horrible, but I really liked the outside brown bag.  It was perfect for us, once we separated the two bags.  I thought it was a good size that kept us from bringing too much stuff everywhere we went.

For our little boy, I decided to stick with the same brown bag.  It has a few pockets on the inside, but not enough to keep everything from ending up at the bottom of the bag.

Enter an old pair of my husband's khakis and a shower curtain.  I know, I know.  My husband said only I would look at such random material and see potential for diaper bag organizers.  Hear me out.  The khaki is heavy duty, and if you cut it the right way, you get a pocket already assembled (score!), and the shower curtain is made of material that can easily be wiped down and cleaned should any food/sticky messes arise (it's a diaper bag for Pete's sake!).  I also snatched up a carabiner from our dozens of metal water bottles, and purchased 1 inch D rings and 4 matching zippers.    

Since I upcycled pants for this project the size of the pouches were determined after I carefully cut out the back pockets of the pants.  What can I say?  I like pockets, but I don't like sewing them.

My largest pouch was cut to about 10 inches by 9 1/2 inches, and I used a 9 inch zipper for it.

The other three pouches are various lengths, but all have a 7 inch zipper across the top.

I cut 4 pieces of each size (2 rectangles of shower lining for the interior of the bag, 2 rectangles of khaki for the outside).

Next, I made a 'zipper sandwich'.  I placed my khaki material face up, the the zipper face down, and finally the lining face down.  Pin in place, and sew across.

Unzip the zipper halfway, and sandwich the zipper between the lining and the exterior on the other side.

When you are finished it should look like this.

Next, I sewed up a small tube to attach the D rings.  I made two at a time, just to make things easier on myself.  I cut my material to about 4 X 3 inches, sewed up the length, turned it right side out, and then cut it in half to have 2 small pieces to attach two D rings.  

I pinned each D ring in place.

Time to sew around the perimeter.  Place the exterior fabric on the left, and the lining on the right.  On the lining side, I left a 3 inch opening to turn in right side out.  Sew around the edge.  I sewed around twice just for some extra wear and tear.  Clip the corners, and trim the extra fabric so it lays flat.  Then turn the bag right side out.  Stitch up the lining, and that's it.

The D ring is optional of course, but I think it is nice to have the bags all lined up.

All ready to filled with baby goodies :)

How do you keep your diaper bag organized?