Sew Your Own Nail Image Plate Holder (Dashica SDP)

Hi folks!  Today's tutorial is going to be quick and easy and therefore void of most of my pointless humor.  For that I apologize.  Last night I adapted an idea to sew your own coupon binder into a solution for those pesky nail plates that I don't have storage for.

If you're hitting this blog then you're probably just as anal as I am (and probably slightly OCD) about getting ALL your nail image plates nice and organized, instead of just the plates that happen to fit in the Bundle Monster image plate holder.  Maybe you've spent too much money on various sized and shaped page protectors.  Maybe (like me) you refuse to pay more than a couple dollars for a set of page protectors.  Well I'm here to tell you how to do that, with just a couple simple items:

Things I needed for this project:

• The nail image plates I wanted to fit
• A heavy weight page protector (previously bought from Walmart)
• Sewing Machine
• All Purpose Thread
• Knife

Yup, that's ALL I needed for this incredibly simple project!  

Here is a look at the finished version:

 

These plates are nice and snug and not going ANYWHERE -- which is just how I like my plates.  Okay, it's time to get started!

Grab your plates and your heavy weight page protector.  Lie your page protector on a flat surface and decide how you would like your plates to fit.  For the SDPs I realized that all six could fit nicely into one page, laid out like this:

Now that you know what layout you want, it's time to fold the page protector.  I first folded mine in half vertically, then in thirds horizontally.  I used my pretty, stamped fingernails to really set the crease as I folded.  Learn from my mistake:  I would recommend making the top third of the page slightly longer than the other two folds.  I find that my plates sit a little close to the top edge in the finished project.  

After you make your creases, unfold your protector and set your plates on top of each plate's designated home.  Make sure that you have given adequate room for each plate:

At this point, you could decide that you wanted to do a double-sided page.  I did not, because I did not feel the weight of the protector would handle two sets of metal plates.  If you would like to make it double sided then insert a piece of paper or card stock into the protector itself right now.

Off to the sewing machine!!!  I used the standard needle that was already in the machine.  I have already sewn a couple projects with it, so it was probably getting close to needing to be replaced anyway.  Sewing on plastic will dull your needle.  If you're only making one page protector then it probably won't matter, but if you plan on doing many pages, then reserve the needle to sew only on plastic from this point out. 

I chose a multicolored all-purpose thread (just because I wanted an excuse to use it) and a decorative stitch.  Choose a stitch that suits you, but choose a stronger one.  I don't think a single stitch to support the weight of the plates will hold out for long.  My stitch started and ended with a star, so I didn't have to do tack stitches at the beginning and end.  Make sure you do the tack stitches if needed, otherwise it will all fall apart quickly.  If you are doing a double-sided protector, be mindful that the stitch you use looks good both front and back.

Now sew the creases.  You simply sew straight across your protector on the creases.  I first sewed the long vertical line (don't mind the slits -- as I explained earlier, I recommend cutting later):

Next sew the horizontal creases.  You can sew straight across the center if you would like.  I chose not to, because I wanted it to look prettier with my decorative stitch.  So instead I sewed 4 separate lines, stopping/starting just before/after the long vertical line.  

In this pic I have 2 of my 4 horizontal lines done:

Once you have finished sewing all your creases, lay your page protector flat and put your plates on top of their designated home spots.  

NOW you can finally cut the slits.  I wish I had waited before, because it made my sewing more tedious to ensure I didn't sew over my slits.  You need to cut four horizontal slits, one over the top of each of the bottom four plates (the top plates are already open).  You want to cut through both sides of the protector at once.  Do not cut over your sewn lines.  I used my fabric cutter, on top of a self-healing mat.  This pic is a bit out of sync since I did cutting first:

Viola!  You can now put your plates into the holder!!!  At this point, I thought I was done.  I was SO excited, I just had to go and share with AIS about what I had done:

Haste, however, comes with a price.  I put my lovely new plate holder into my binder and made the realization that the plates still slid too much!  So I sat back down to figure out what to do about it.  I laid the page flat with the plates in it.  I arranged the plates as I would like them to stay.  I outlined the right and left sides of each plate to directly fit that spot and again made more creases in the page protector.  Observe the additional creases on the page protector.  These outline exactly how I wanted the plates to fit:

I wanted to hold each plate into place.  For each plate holder spot, I sewed a vertical line on the new crease on both the left and the right of where each plate was to sit.  I did not sew down the entire side -- a line taking up about 2/3 of the slot would be sufficient.  So I started about a sewing foot length in, and stopped about a sewing foot length from the end.  As I was only using single stitches, I had to ensure I used a tack stitch at the beginning and the end of each short line.  In case you are wondering what the heck I am talking about right now, here is a picture -- look at the upper right hand section.  That plate is now secured in by tight stitching on each side (click to open the large version if necessary):

Before you run off and start sewing those 12 lines, heed this warning -- be VERY careful!  If you sew too closely your plate will not have room to fit.  If you have to rip out the thread you will most certainly have unsightly holes to deal with.  You don't want that.  So check the placement of each plate as you go along.  I inserted my plates after sewing the left lines to ensure I didn't need to adjust my right lines. 

After I sewed all 12 short lines I made one final tiny modification.  At the very top, I sewed short horizontal lines to help hold those plates in.  As I mentioned earlier, my top plates sat a bit too close to the top.  You probably don't need to do this step if you gave your top plates more room than I did:

Congratulations, you are now completely done!!!  You have a nice protector for your plates that is free of slide.  To illustrate I held my new pretty page protector at an angle:

Enjoy your custom nail plate holder!  You can easily modify this idea to fit any sized plate that will fit in a page protector.  Just decide where you need your creases to be, sew, cut, and decide if you need extra definition anywhere.  I plan to make these for all my plates that don't fit in the Bundle Monster holder.  Good luck!!!