Going back to the days of "I made it myself"

Long gone are the days when it was cheaper to make yourself something to wear. In most cases, it costs less to buy something made in China or Guatemala than to make it yourself out of American made fabrics. This is just sad.

There are notable exceptions. Kids clothes, like shorts and teeshirts, require very little fabric and can be turned out pretty quickly. But if your time it worth anything, it's usually more cost effective to go to Ross or T J Maxx (or a big department store sale) to buy a dress than to make one yourself.

The other notable exception is at the high end of clothing prices. If you're making a wedding dress, especially one with lots of hand beading or lace, you can also save money if you're really good at what you do and if you have infinite patience.

The items in this pattern (McCalls 8260) might be another thing that you can make cheaper yourself than buy in the store. (Assuming your time is not valuable.) Even this would require hitting a sale at a fabric store. You'd also need to know how to make your own bias tape.  But if you made not just one set but a number of these items, I think you could save a lot of money and have something really nice for your home or car. They would also make cool Christmas presents. And if you're like me, you really can't afford to buy the number of shoe organizers it would take to hang up all your shoes.

In addition to the closet organizers, bedside organizer and car organizer, this pattern also makes a two-sided wrapping paper holder, and an accessories holder with cool triangle pockets for your brollies. Now you can make up your own patterns for stuff like this. My daughter made a really cute bedside book holder for her dad. But this pattern could speed up your creative process.

Looking at a pattern like this makes me itchy. Itchy to make something cool that would help me organize my life better. I'm hoping someone will buy this one quickly so that I'm out of the itchy zone.