Homemade Travel Essentials

Having traveled a few times you may have realized that it’s difficult to keep your jewelry safe from kinks and scratches. This is because your storing choices are limited mainly to suitcase or purse. Protect your jewelry by making a small roll-up pouch.

Cut a piece of black velvet and a piece of black satin into a 9″ X 11″ rectangle. With ride sides together, sew a few inches of the bottom, to the corner and then up one side, across the top and back down to the final corner. Stich a couple of inches across the bottom and stop. This should leave a small opening for turning the pouch right side out. After turning stitch bottom closed.

Cut a half-inch strip of the velvet – 10″ long. Sew this across the bottom, onto the satin side, one inch from the edge. Cut another strip of the same dimensions and sew it across the top, one inch from edge. Cut a third strip and sew it 6″ from the bottom velvet strip. Now sew rows from top to bottom, leaving half inch spaces in between.

On one edge tack a 12″ piece of ribbon, folded in half for tying the pouch shut. Now simply place jewelry pieces through two of the velvet strips and clasp. Your jewelry will remain flat and protected. Roll the pouch up and tie shut with ribbon.

For car travel it seems that there’s never enough storage space. Glove boxes are fine for some things but if you make a removable pouch you can store drinks, tissue and more.

Cut a piece of fabric to an approximate size for your seats. The fabric should reach across the back, leaving a few inches to spare on each side. The fabric should be cut long enough to go from the center of the inside back, over the top of the seat, and hang down about halfway on the back side. Now cut another rectangle which is two inches shorter in width and about 12″ long.

Hem the large piece of fabric all the way around. hem the top of the small piece of fabric. Sew the small piece of fabric onto the large piece, a couple of inches from bottom edge. Sew down the center of the small piece, or divide it into thirds. Toss the pouch set over the back of a seat for kids. They can hang their drink and use one pouch for a temporary trash container.

A similar pouch can be made for the arms of the front seats. Put together a smaller version which wraps around the arm and has velcro strips to hold into place. These can be removed and washed at any time.

If you don’t have a sewing machine or it seems like too much bother, simply purchase fabric glue and do the project in a snap. Make sure the glue says it will remain through laundering.

Make just about any game into a travel game by purchasing a piece of felt and copying the game layout onto the felt. Use pieces from an old game for markers. To keep the markers and such in place put a small piece of velcro on the bottom of each piece. Tack a ribbon on one end of the felt so the set can be rolled up and stored.

Traveling is even more fun when you have everything you need and some things that simply make the trip a little easier.