How to Make the Catch All Caddy 2.0: A Sturdy Organizer for Quilters and Sewists
Every sewing table collects the same clutter: scissors, rotary cutters, markers, and thread scattered wherever they were last set down. The Catch All Caddy 2.0 pattern answers that problem with a sturdy, over-sized caddy designed to hold and organize all your supplies, with pockets and dividers that keep everything easy to access.
What Is the Catch All Caddy 2.0?
Catch All Caddy 2.0 is a pattern for a sturdy, over-sized organizer caddy. Six slip pockets on the exterior provide easy access to tools and supplies, and a zippered pocket on one end keeps personal items safe and secure. Inside, expanding dividers open to organize a multitude of supplies — or collapse to fall flat against the interior, affording a wide-open interior for plenty of storage possibilities.
Comfy padded fabric handles make carrying easy. They attach with rectangle rings, which allow them to fall flat against the front or back of the caddy. The finished caddy measures 7 inches high by 13.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches deep.
This 2.0 version is an update of the original Catch All Caddy, released in 2014. Like a new edition of a textbook, it features improved design and layout, easier-to-follow steps and diagrams, and the newest and best techniques.
Why Quilters and Sewists Use It
First, access. The six exterior slip pockets put your most-used tools at your fingertips, so you can grab what you need without digging.
Second, security. The zippered pocket on one end keeps personal items safe and secure in transit.
Third, flexibility. The expanding dividers open when you want small supplies sorted into sections, and collapse flat when you need one wide-open space. The same caddy adapts to both kinds of storage.
How to Make and Use It, Step by Step
- Read the pattern through first. The exterior pockets, zippered end pocket, dividers, and handles come together in a specific order, so a full read-through prevents surprises.
- Prepare your components. Following the pattern's class guidance, have your fabric quilted and everything cut out before assembly — the project moves much more smoothly once the pieces are ready.
- Build the exterior. Construct the caddy body with its six slip pockets and add the zippered pocket on one end.
- Add the interior dividers. Install the expanding dividers so they open to organize supplies and can collapse flat against the interior walls.
- Attach the handles. Add the padded fabric handles with their rectangle rings, checking that they fall flat against the front or back.
- Load it with a system. Put daily tools in the exterior slip pockets, personal items in the zippered end pocket, and sort interior supplies between the dividers.
Practical Tips
The pattern makes a great class project for all levels of sewists, from beginners to more advanced makers — suggested as two half-day classes or one full-day class, with students preparing components in the first session and assembling the caddy in the second. Sewing at home, that same rhythm works well: one session to prepare, another to assemble.
Keep the items you reach for most in the exterior pockets, and use the zippered end pocket for anything small and valuable when the caddy travels to a class or retreat.
Care and Storage
Empty the caddy occasionally and shake out lint, thread snippets, and batting fuzz from the pockets and divider folds. Let the handles fall flat against the sides when you set it down so they stay out of your work area. Store it upright on your sewing table or shelf, lightly loaded, so it is ready to carry.
Project Ideas
Make one as your permanent sewing-table organizer, with cutting tools outside and project supplies divided inside. Sew a second as a class-and-retreat caddy you keep packed and ready to grab. Use the wide-open interior — dividers collapsed — for a single larger project, then expand the dividers again for mixed supplies. Or make one as a gift for a quilting friend, with favorite notions tucked into the slip pockets.
Shop the Catch All Caddy 2.0 at Linda's Electric Quilters.
