I used to read a lot when I was younger - nothing could beat Enid Blyton! Now I'm older I find I read less, though Enid Blyton still crops up occasionally! But I figured with Baby on the way, reading would be something I could do perhaps whilst breast feeding, or when I'm too tired to sew. So for my birthday I got a Kindle (one handed reading!).
Every Kindle needs a case so I started hunting the internet and found this tutorial, which seemed to hit the spot. I decided to combine it with another plan for the year. Sarah from Fairy Face Designs is leading a year of using up scraps.
Over Christmas when I sorted out my sewing stuff, it turned out I have far more scraps than I thought - I tend to keep anything that can make a 1/4" hexagon upwards! Sarah's goal is also to make practical things for the house. All of this seems like a good idea, and a Kindle case using some scraps felt like the perfect thing to start with.
This was yesterday lunchtime.
My comfort zone and improv piecing are about as far apart as the Moon and the Earth. It's not something that comes naturally, but that was the plan. I totally forgot to take a photo of the resulting improv square which was about 6" x 6". From that square I cut two strips for the front of my case, and then, as I had a fair bit left over, I cut out a heart shape to applique. I added in some Architextures cross hatch in grey (one of my favourite fabrics) for the outside of the case et voila!
The inside of the case is a fabric from Reminisce by Art Gallery (another favourite). I finished the case off with the perfect orange button!
The tutorial was excellent, but I would add a few points - if you are planning on quilting the case (which I did, but the original tutorial didn't) it would work better made slightly bigger to start with to allow for shrinkage - I think I would add an extra half inch. Also, my machine did not like the hairbands. I only broke one needle, but I was going slow and because they are so think the foot wasn't pressing on the fabric enough for the feed-dogs to work so I had to manually feed it through. Although I'm pleased with the result, there are a few lumps and bumps round the hair bands which I would have preferred not to have but that's life.
Although I don't generally enjoy the process of improv piecing, I do love the look of it, so this is going down as a definite success. Well, until Baby throws up on it! And whilst I was rummaging in the scraps I pulled out some for another project, so watch this space!
Every Kindle needs a case so I started hunting the internet and found this tutorial, which seemed to hit the spot. I decided to combine it with another plan for the year. Sarah from Fairy Face Designs is leading a year of using up scraps.
Over Christmas when I sorted out my sewing stuff, it turned out I have far more scraps than I thought - I tend to keep anything that can make a 1/4" hexagon upwards! Sarah's goal is also to make practical things for the house. All of this seems like a good idea, and a Kindle case using some scraps felt like the perfect thing to start with.
This was yesterday lunchtime.
My comfort zone and improv piecing are about as far apart as the Moon and the Earth. It's not something that comes naturally, but that was the plan. I totally forgot to take a photo of the resulting improv square which was about 6" x 6". From that square I cut two strips for the front of my case, and then, as I had a fair bit left over, I cut out a heart shape to applique. I added in some Architextures cross hatch in grey (one of my favourite fabrics) for the outside of the case et voila!
The inside of the case is a fabric from Reminisce by Art Gallery (another favourite). I finished the case off with the perfect orange button!
The tutorial was excellent, but I would add a few points - if you are planning on quilting the case (which I did, but the original tutorial didn't) it would work better made slightly bigger to start with to allow for shrinkage - I think I would add an extra half inch. Also, my machine did not like the hairbands. I only broke one needle, but I was going slow and because they are so think the foot wasn't pressing on the fabric enough for the feed-dogs to work so I had to manually feed it through. Although I'm pleased with the result, there are a few lumps and bumps round the hair bands which I would have preferred not to have but that's life.
Although I don't generally enjoy the process of improv piecing, I do love the look of it, so this is going down as a definite success. Well, until Baby throws up on it! And whilst I was rummaging in the scraps I pulled out some for another project, so watch this space!
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