Monday, May 20, 2013

Felt Cases

I'm hard on my electronics. They all take dings and glue marks (part of the reason I do non-adhesive books is that I cannot use glue without getting it on everything) and get transported here and there. Instead of buying cases from the shop (or modifying one in the case of my graphics tablet) I looked at those pieces of thick dressmaker's felt in my stash and said to myself-yep, I'm gonna make them. De-stash bonus!

And since I made these before I had embroidered the rapper sashes, I fancy it's easy to see the progression of my nonexistant embroidery skills from my first attempt which is really just a book binding stitch to my bad-tensioned second attempt to crisp SSR. I love recognizing progression of skill mainly because I feel like I tend to hit plateaus and terraces in most things.

First off, my phone case:

So my phone already has one of those bouncy rubber cases so it's protected against the inevitable drops it takes but once it gets in my bag, that screen protector gets smeary and surface scratched (no idea how!) so I made this simple envelope style case. Inside it's lined with this odd water repellent fabric (shop closings-always end up with strange fabric from those things) that allows the phone to slide in despite the skid-proof rubber case. (I also like to think it'd repel water if I, say, drop it in a puddle.) The zig zag stitch you see is anchoring this lining-it was so slippery during sewing I sewed it down in frustration. Since neither fabric frays, the sides could be stitched and trimmed without edge finishing so my laziness does mean that there is a hint of the pinstriped lining fabric at the edges. It doesn't bother me one bit. The flap is pinked for decoration and held down with 2 snaps.

Of course, I couldn't leave it alone and decided to embroider it. Do I own an embroidery hoop or have any real previous experience with embroidery? Of course not. Did I let it stop me? Nah. So there is my personal logo outlined with blue (to match the lining fabric) in a backstitch filled with what my embroidery booklet calls a "seed" stitch in green. Is there puckering? Only minorly and it absolutely doesn't interfere with the case doing what it's supposed to-protect my screen from the ravages of my bag.

Next my graphics tablet:

I actually made this first but the construction was a bit more complicated. I constructed that outer pocket and stitched it down the sides to the outer layer of felt. Then I embroidered that T using a book binding cording stitch. (which makes it very nubbly) Then I stitched outer layer of felt to an inner layer which is why nothing ended up straight. Whoops, oh well. Those layers of felt don't fray so they got stitched into a simple envelope shape. Flaps pinked and buttons stitched on-mother of pearl for the cord pocket and bunnies for the main flap. The buttons are slightly too large but I actually don't have any smaller in my stash so whatever. They do their job with a tightly knotted trail of embroidery thread that gets threaded around them alá those interdepartmental envelopes.

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