If it is packed away tidily, it is not rubbish

I came back from Switzerland with loads of nice maps, exotic-looking train tickets, timetables, brochures and postcards that I had accumulated while I was away.

I didn't need this pile of paper once I was home, but at the same time it was so evocative of our trip that I could not bear to throw it away.  It sat on my desk for a week - a tottering pile of redundant Swiss information.

And after a while I decided that if it all had a nice folder to live in, it could be stored on a shelf and would no longer need to be described as rubbish.  A paper folder might be seen as temporary over time, but surely a custom-made fabric folder would attach some kind of posterity to these souvenirs?

So this week I made myself a folder to store all these sentimental bits of information in.

There are two large pockets (18cm by 18cm) for postcards, timetables and maps.  And there is one smaller pocket (10cm by 10cm) for train and bus tickets.  The pockets are all lined, and have thick interfacing in them as well so that they stay nice and stiff and do not sag under the weight of the paper. 

I sewed the pockets onto a rectangle of quilting weight cotton (46cm by 30cm).  Then I cut a matching rectangle of leftover quilt wadding and final rectangle of quilting cotton and made a quilt sandwich with them.  I sewed through all the layers along the spine of the folder and then enclosed all the raw edges with binding.  To stop the folder from falling open I added velcro tabs to each corner.

For the front I knew I wanted a label.  I started embroidering Switzerland and the date onto some scrap calico, and then realised I would have to embroider a flag as well.  The Swiss love their flags as the Americans do, and Swiss flags were fluttering from almost every shop, restaurant and house that we saw.  Happily the Swiss flag is much easier to embroider than the American one.

The Swiss use a great deal of black in their designs and crafting so I added a black flourish in as well.  I stitched the label onto the front of the folder, and then added underneath a very short length of some Swiss ribbon that I had brought back with me.  I love this ribbon and how it uses such typical Swiss colours and Alpine flowers.  They use this ribbon on all kinds of traditional clothes, as well as bags, dog leads and cow bell harnesses.  I even saw a bicycle saddle decorated with it.

So the folder is done, and now sits on my shelves making me feel very organised in a Swiss sort of way.  And whenever I want to reminisce about some of the walks we did, I now know exactly where to find that map.