Mission: Chair Pockets

When it comes to storage for my kindergarteners I have to get creative. I needed a simple way for my little ones to access their folders. A coworker of mine used chair pockets, her pockets were provided by a local nonprofit from several years ago. The simple pockets can be used to store work folders and nameplates for easy access and clean up.

Now, I had to find these chair pockets! Not so easy... much to my disappointment the nonprofit stopped making them a couple years ago. Next, I took to the internet to order my own. When I began browsing it turns out these lovely things cost between 8 and 10 dollars! That's 8 to 10 dollars for EACH student! Yikes!
CHA CHING!

Well then, I decided that I just had to make them! I had no sewing experience so I brought up the idea to my mother in law and she jumped right in!

I bought bright upholstery fabric that matched my classroom color scheme, which was a far cry from the tan and white neutral palette I was planning on.

When creating the covers you create a long rectangle and fold the rectangle one way to make the pocket fit the chair. Next, you fold the other half to create the pocket for a folder to fit. For the folder pocket you leave just an inch at the top. These dimensions also fit to the exact dimensions to my classroom chairs. I wish I took more photos of the process but I do have photos of the finished project.

Oh they turned out lovely! They add so much color and brightness to the classroom.

I hope this can inspire you. When you run into walls for your classroom because of budget, maybe you can make things even better and even cheaper then you first imagined. I have had these for two years and they still look amazing. I will say that the teal blue and yellow will be my classroom colors for a while. This is due to my chair cover commitment, and I'm perfectly okay with that!