Sunday, January 27, 2013

Kindle Case

Obviously I just don't feel challenged unless I'm facing a deadline. Why else would I avoid packing the night before our flight to sew a Kindle cover...one I won't even use once I order my leather case? Regardless, I had my heart set on an easy all-fabric case I could slide my kindle into- something bright and easy to see inside of a purse and somewhat exemplary of my skills in sewing so far.
Nailed it.

Let's all take a moment and thank our lucky stars I didn't go with the original plan of putting a button on there too! This was so handy I didn't worry at all about my Kindle sliding out, but was deep enough that it fit comfortably. 
I had the fabric on hand- mint was a cloth napkin from my wedding, blue polka dots was bought recently for something that never panned out, and the felt I somehow accumulated. I actually had a hard time figuring out the spatial arrangement of this project- I think I was rushing myself. I had it in my head that all of my seams would be hidden and beautiful; that there would be no fraying threads or loose ends. But, come on. 
I did try my hand at another applique-type embellishment. I thought it would be really cute to have words on the front of the case- something colloquial and subtle, but made a statement all at the same time. The best I could come up with was READ ME in a cursive sort of script, justified because if you mess up cursive it's natural but if your block letters aren't all the same height it looks DUMB.
Lesson learned: Ripley's head is way easier to sew than little letters with lots of corners. Maybe I should have tried something simpler, but I was on a roll at this point and my fingers (or my pedalling foot) couldn't stop. (I was too lazy to find something to trace my letters with, so my felt has a slight tinge from the red pencil I used).
I sewed my fabric squares together so they at least wouldn't move on me as I figured this bad boy out: outside and inside with right sides facing, then a sheet of felt outside of that. I wanted some extra oomph to my case so it stood up a little straighter.
I folded them (less sewing) and sewed (sort of) like a pillowcase, all inside-out-like. I trimmed my edges and refolded so they were all on the inside...then realized if you looked INTO the sleeve you could see my seams...which wasn't what I wanted. But frankly, only I am looking in there, otherwise you see the outside or the Kindle. So, for me, this worked. But if I wanted to sell it (possibilities) I would tuck my seam somehow so the inside was just as nice as the outside. Give me a second while I try to visualize it.
Overall, I liked how it turned out. Yes, you can totally see the holes in the fabric from where I cut the stitching. Yes, I nicked the insde by accident. Yes, my zig zags are humongous and awkward and don't totally fit on my teeny-tiny letters. But it served it's purpose, I didn't spend any money on it and my Kindle traveled scratch-free. Success in 1.5 hours.


1 comment:

  1. I LOVE your little Kindle case. It's so cute. And with the writing on it -- I'll have you quilting in no time.

    "Hiding" your seams is rather easy to do -- I would have taken a pillow case pattern and made it smaller to fit your Kindle. The best tutorial I've seen is here:
    http://twiddletails.blogspot.com/2010/05/pillowcases-pillowcases.html

    It's the tutorial I used to make (so many) pillowcases this past year. Super easy and fun.

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Mrs. E