Guest Post - Pimping my organisers – adding backpacks - Paul

Thank you to Paul for sending in this post. 

As well as using Filofaxes as intended (Mini Kendal as a wallet, Personal Cuban as a daily planner, etc.) I’ve also picked up some cheapie non- Filofax organisers for specific projects. I don’t need pockets and card slots for these but did want extra carrying space for pens, markers and other stationery.

There is, of course, the Bookaroo Notebook Tidy, but I wanted a closed pouch rather than the open webbing, something with two straps rather than one, and thought I could make something better for a bit less dosh.

I’ve been using a generic military pouch belt for my mobile (on the chunky size), and that was just about the right size. Also had an old army magazine pouch leftover from when I was trying to work out the best way to carry a tin whistle. It was too big for a personal sized organiser but worked on an A5 binder.

The pouches cost about £5 or so on eBay, available in a limited range of drab colours. The ex-army one is of higher quality, but this isn’t necessarily an advantage – the Velcro flaps can be a bit over-enthusiastic in the clinginess department, and it won’t open without putting up a bit of a struggle.

There are a couple of belt staps to unpick (or cut on the army ones), look like they may be useful for straps or pull-tabs so added to my stock of oddments. This leaves two sets of horizontal webbing bands ready to feed straps through.

The two Velcro straps above were fitted to test the concept and would be handy if you wanted to swap a pouch between differently sized organisers. I’ve replaced them with elasticated webbing which cost £7 for 6 meters @ 25mm wide. Plenty left over for making up new pen loops, other projects and perhaps refurbishing sagging undies.

I allowed a generous overlap on the A5 webbing before cutting the strips, so there was about 10cm of tape joined by using mega sticky VHB acrylic gel tape, with a couple of 12mm pieces in parallel. For the Personal sized ones, I cut the webbing flush before being stretched; this worked out at a 6cm joint to provide the desired tension. Once stuck, the joint is fed round out of sight, tucked behind the webbing. Was going to sew along the joint as well, but the gel tape seems to be strong enough on its own. Plan B if things go ping.

The picture below may seem a bit confusing at first, on the left is a pouch with the elastic in place, waiting to have the plastic strips on top peeled away before the other end of the webbing is stuck down. The pouch, on the left, is on top of an open ‘Bind’ organiser (Personal sized paper and rings in a larger body), the two straps on the right are from the pouch fitted to that one.

And here’s how they look when finished – shuffle until happy with the placement.

And the A5 Timberland with the ‘Osprey Molle MTP Single Mag Ammo Pouch SA80 Genuine Surplus’. The straps have been splayed out slightly to keep the fit fairly solid.

Thank you Paul for an interesting addition