I made a felt kindle cover

I got a sewing machine a few months ago and had a goal to make 5 things by the end of 2012.  If you count the 5 tea towels I made then, yea, I did it. But really,  not really, because I had wanted to make 5 different projects.  So here’s project 3 (#2 was a paper garland) and I love it.

So I’m not the best sewer ever but this is useful and I made it, therefore it rules.  You can make one too if you can sew in a semi-straight-ish line.

Supplies: 2 felt pieces// sewing machine// thread and needle// 2 smallish rectangular fabric pieces// bead or button// elastic cord

I made this little case out of 2 pieces of felt and some fabric from an old pair of my hubby’s shorts which created the inside lining.  I measured the kindle and added a couple inches so I think it came out to be 9.5 inches by 6.25 ” for the felt and the inside pieces, so 4 rectangles the same size in all. Then I sewed it like you would a pillow, inside out like, then turned it inside out again so it was right side out.  That’s confusing, sorry.  So I sewed the inside shorts fabric to the felt pieces then sewed the felt pieces together (3 sides total), leaving one top side open.  It’ll be inside out then so you pull the fabric through the opening and done!  (Ok, that explanation wasn’t much better)  Well, just kidding. Then I hand sewed the pearl onto the “front” side of my case and stitched a loop of elastic to the other “back” side so you can “close” it up.  Now you can put it safely into your purse or man-bag and not worry about random coffee spills or beer or whatever you prefer on an outing. Yay.

Happy reading folks!

 

Making tea towels

For my first sewing machine project I made tea towels out of old sheets (there’s that E.T. sheet showing up) and sewed cute cupcakes and such that I cut out of felt.  I think these will be a cute hostess gift with a jar of homemade preserves wrapped inside.

Here’s what I used: scissors, sewing machine, felt, thread.  I cut up the cupcake designs while watching t.v. one night, Dexter reruns of course.  For the towel I measured and cut 16×20″ of fabric and I pinned and sewed a hem on each side.  Easy enough.  I cut out a few squares of fun fabric I had laying around and sewed them on.

I used several different fun stitches on the cupcakes like a curly-q and a zig-zag.  I also changed out the colors of thread to either match or contrast with the felt color.

So bye-bye spending $18 on cute anthropology towels (sorry I love you), I’ll just make my own thank-you.

The best part of all this is I found that I really enjoy sewing with my machine and I can’t wait to tackle more projects. I’m waiting on my “Sew-in-a straight-line” book to land on my doorstep.  Hope you are having a great Thanksgiving week, it’s absolutely beautiful around here!  I’ve got to go practice baking a pecan pie now;)