Earring holder sewing tutorial

I had this idea when my mother-in-law was wondering how she could mail a pair of earrings to one of her relatives. I immediately thought of those little cards that I used to have for my earrings when I was a kid, only those were actually quite plain and boring. So why not make a cute earring holder out of some fabric scraps? Here's what I came up with:

I even thought of taking pictures to write a short tutorial :-)
It's a really quick and easy project, and all you'll need is this:

• some fabric scraps (coordinating with or contrasting the color of the earrings, if you like)
• a tiny bit of ribbon (don't tell anyone, but I like cutting those satin ribbons from shirts that they put in to stop the shirts slipping from their hangers and that always stick out when I wear such a shirt - you won't believe the range of colors I've collected this way!)
• a scrap of fusible fleece (whatever weight you have at hand)

I started by piecing together two scraps, as I found that the scraps I wanted to use were a little too small. In order to do that, place the two scraps right sides together, then sew along the edge. Press open the seam allowance. 

But of course it's also possible to use just one fabric for the front. Draw a rectangle on the "wrong" side of this piece. My scraps were just large enough for a 4.5cm x 6cm rectangle, but I think anything larger than 4cm in either direction will work (depending on the size of the earrings).

Cut the fusible fleece to exactly the same dimensions and iron it on carefully to stay just inside the rectangle. Then place the ribbon on the right side of the fabric (if the ribbon has a "right" and "wrong" side, the "wrong" side of the ribbon goes on the "right" side of the front fabric), and on top of that the fabric scrap for the back (right sides together). I didn't even pin it, as the whole piece was so small, but of course you can pin if you prefer.

On one of the smaller sides, start sewing just 1cm from the bottom left corner (towards that corner) and then all along the fusible interfacing, stopping 1cm after the bottom right corner to leave a small opening for turning.

After cutting back the seam allowance and clipping the corners, turn the whole thing right side out. This step is probably the most difficult part of this project, as the opening won't be very large. Unfortunately, you can't use the longer sides for the opening, as these will have to hold the ribbon. You can use a chopstick or large knitting needle to get nice, sharp corners. Then fold the seam allowance of the opening inside, iron the whole piece and close the opening by hand using a ladder stitch. There's a great video tutorial on how to do this at howtosew.com.

Add your earrings and pat yourself on the shoulder :-)

I don't wear earrings myself, but I think making a bunch of these would be a cute gift for a friend who owns a couple of pairs. If sewn slightly larger, this would also be useful for hair clips. I keep losing those plain small clips that I like, and this could be a way to store them in my handbag when I take them out of my hair.

What else would you use this for?