I’ve been looking for a way to keep our phone chargers corralled when in use and when not in use. The wires are….well, wiry, and they unwind and wave around and are just plain uncooperative.
I stuffed them in a cut off plastic bottle that attaches to the outlet – an idea from Pinterest you might have seen – but the plastic is slippery and the cord doesn’t stay inside. I circled the cord inside a bowl but it pops out, and I still have wires going haywire.
After goofing around with the back pocket from a pair of old jeans, I came up with this.
It contains the unwieldy wire, and even holds two charging phones, if necessary. If your wires are out of control too, here’s how to make this charger pouch (which I call the Kangaroo):
1. Trim the jean pocket and some of the jean leg to enable the fabric to lay flat.
2. From the thigh area, cut a square of fabric about an inch larger than the pocket on the sides and the bottom. Add about two inches on the top. Right sides together, fold down the top of both sides of fabric about an inch to create a smooth edged opening. Sew around the pocket, leaving the top open. Trim excess fabric.
It should now look like this. Or something close.
3. Prepare the strap. Rip out a section of the waistband – whatever length of strap you desire.
4. Remove the belt loop. You can re-sew the waistband closed and use this as your strap. I wanted a narrower strap, so I opened up the waistband and folded it in thirds (each half just crossing the mid-line) to make it slimmer.
I sewed it closed with a zig-zag stitch.
5. Turn the pouch right side out. Tuck the strap into the pouch you just made – not the jean pocket itself – and sew it mostly closed. Leave one end open (or both ends open, if you’d like) so the bulk of the cord can be tucked inside.
The excess phone cord stays in the back pouch, while the plugged in phone hangs in the jean pocket.
This is where our pouch hangs. Just enough cord is pulled out to reach the outlet. The rest of it can’t spring out because the pouch opening is small. The charging phone hangs in the jean pocket.
When I want to disconnect the charger, I streamline the bulk of the cord into the pouch hole and drop the plug into the jean pocket.
The pouch can hang anywhere you have access to an outlet…
So, don’t toss those old jeans! Make an arm chair caddy, or a Kangaroo pouch for your phone charger.
I wonder what I could do with a bunch of belt loops….