Ipod & Phone Case

Getting crafty this week!  Or, you could say, getting sick of not being able to find something I could buy that would hold my ipod and phone without scratching it up.  So I found a fabric I would enjoy seeing every day and some felt to match, some ribbon, and a snap fastener kit.

DISCLAIMER: if you know how to sew, how to follow directions for a sewing project, how to do any real crafting, or have left-brained tendencies you may find yourself feeling queasy as you read the following directions. Around here, we just sort of do thing by trial-and-error and hope for the best.

The first thing I did was measure out how much fabric I'd need.  [Yes, I just put the phone and ipod on the fabric and cut around it...  I warned you.  Really left-brained people may want to measure and draw out a plan, but do what works for you.] 

Then I cut ribbon for each side of the case. The ribbons need to be as long as the case fabric, but will be each folded in half. 

 Finally I cut another piece of felt to use as an insert between the ipod and phone, so they won't scratch each other.Felt is great because it does not fray.  The chicken fabric is cotton and does need to be sewn on the edges to keep tiny threads from coming loose.  To do so, I folded under the edge and sewed it to the large felt piece.  You can see they are already sewn together in the photos above.

Just to prove that I do know a *little* about correctly-done sewing projects, the above photo shows that I did iron the folded ribbons and large rectangle.  It is all crooked and crazy-looking, but at least it is flat.

Next, I sewed the felt insert to both sides of one half.  I put the ipod in and it fit. So far, so good!  However, to put both the phone and ipod in the case at this point would make the case too fat to close.  This is why I added the ribbons to the sides, but I tell everyone the real reason is that it looks really good with ribbon on the sides.  See how this works??

Here is where I started wishing I were a bit more left-brained, but I forged ahead bravely.

With the fold of the ribbon where the top of the case will be (shown above at the top of the picture) I sewed a ribbon to each side of the top half of the case.

Then, with the case felt-side-out, I sewed the other side of the ribbon to the other half of the case, stopping near the bottom.  I did not sew across the bottom (unfolded) side of the ribbon.  Since nothing tiny, like a coin, will go inside this case, I am not worried about the small gap this will leave in the case.

I then turned the case right-side-out.  Notice in the above picture that the bottom of the ribbon tucks neatly inside the case. Notice also that the left and right sides of that ribbon are sewn differently.  I'm telling everyone that I did that on purpose because it looks cool that way. You may be thinking that if I had drawn out a plan, I could have figured out a way to make the right and left sides match, but if you are thinking that, you are too left-brained to do crafts with me.  [I did warn you.]

Because my purse is a disaster area, I needed something to keep the phone and ipod inside the case. It had to be something I can undo with one hand (not that I get these things out of my purse while I'm driving, but I may need them while I'm arm wrestling or something, you know).  I opted for snaps. 

Using a snap fastener kit, I attached snaps at alternate places.  The snap fastener kit was easy to find at JoAnn Fabrics and easy to use. The kit requires pounding a hammer on the little fasteners. But like Martha Stewart likes to say, you might not want to do that on your mahogany dining room table.

I've been using the ipod and phone case for a few days now and it is working really nicely. Success!