DIY Midori with Coach Leather

I have joined the Midori fan club. I love this method of notekeeping, sketching, and journaling. And to make sure I loved it, I made one. 

You can easily find a YouTube video to guide you in the process, but I had a twist. You see, I also love Coach bags. I have the vintage kind with the glove tanned leather and in my Coach stash was a little case that was made to hold a tiny device called a Visor. Everybody had them back then, and I was gifted with a Coach case to keep my little device safe. The problem is, the way the case is made on the inside, it can't be used for anything else. 

I couldn't take it, because I love that coach leather. So...

I destroyed it.

And I made myself a baby Midori. The rectangle of leather I cut out was small, so my DIY Midori is just a bit smaller than the classic passport size.

After trimming out my rectangle of leather, it was easy to use my Cropadile to put a grommet in the back for the elastic that wraps around the whole case, and then two grommets each at the top and bottom to string in two pieces of elastic that now holds four little notebook inserts, a little folder, a dashboard, and a few plastic pockets. You can buy some really cute Midori traveler's notebooks on Etsy that come with charms, so I included some charms on mine from my bead stash. Actually, I didn't buy anything! I made this whole babydori from the leather I had, scrapbook papers, notebook paper, and watercolor paper for the inserts, and the grommets I had on hand. I found the heavyduty black elastic cord in my MIL's old sewing stash. But you could certainly buy some cute colored elastic cord.
I don't know if I had more fun making the notebook, or the inserts. If you buy the traditional plain Midori inserts, you can certainly decorate with them all you want with your scrappy stash, stickers, stamps, washi tape, everything. You can add index tabs, your own charms, whatever you like. I made a cute dashboard folder to go around one of the notebook inserts with cutouts from an old Workbasket magazine, and some packing tape to laminate it.

Making Midori inserts

Here's a peek inside...and keep in mind, I'm still having fun decorating it.

Inside my babydori

Now the question is, do I want a full size Midori? The answer is yes! My babydori now rides around in my bag, and I use it a lot! But before I drop around eighty to ninety dollars to buy a Midori and all the inserts, I've decided just to make more. No, I'm not cutting up a Coach bag! I love my bags...this little case was certainly an anomaly. I am busy making stitchydoris! I'm using cute fabric, embroidering, and doing some experimenting right now to make full size fabric Midoris. And of course, the best part is, I'm making more inserts. I also plan to order a couple of really cute ones from Yellow Paper House on Etsy...check those out if you have a Midori.

This was the best decision...I'm enjoying this Coach babydori so much. I'm linking below here to what I think is one of the best explanations of how the Midori works, if you're curious and don't know, with the Reset Girl on YouTube.

Midori 101

In the meantime, here's another great way to bust your scrappy stash, and upcycle something obsolete! Happy Monday!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Plan