Transcription
I'm really excited about [music] today's video because we are using some gorgeous vintage fabric that I found [music] in my parents' basement last summer. Look at this 40-plus-year-old Holly Hobby fabric, you guys. I am so excited for today. Now, I will tell you, this one right here in the middle, she's my very, very favorite and I'm not going to use her today, but I had all these extra ladies hanging out on the side here and I decided to put them to use in a project. So, today's project is a problem-solving project and I'm excited about this one.
So, I have made a vow to myself that I will be reading more this summer and I got a Kindle to do that with. So, what I need to make is a Kindle case. What's great about this is I'm going to give you the formula. So, whatever size your Kindle or if you're going to put an iPad in here, whatever size this thing is that you're wanting to make, as long as it's a rectangle and it doesn't have anything crazy button-wise, you should be good to use this formula.
So, I am going to, first of all, show you the fabrics that I've already cut. So, I'm using a dish mat from Dollar Tree to stabilize this. Now, you could get a dish mat from anywhere or you could use craft foam that you can get at the craft store, but for today's video, I'm just going to assume that this idea strikes you and you're literally sitting in your house and maybe Dollar Tree is the closest place you can go. Just grab one of these dish mats. The other thing you're going to need is, you don't have to use this, but what I'm going to use to make this water-resistant is a shower curtain liner that I got at Marshalls for $4.50. This thing's enormous and it's going to take me forever to use all of it up. So, if you do find one of these, it's always good to grab them if you ever need to make something for carrying wet items. So, if you and that's on the outside or the inside. So, on the inside you could put your wet swimsuits. You could make a big wet bag for it and use it at the pool. For your car, if you go on my website and sign up for the newsletter, you get access to a free pattern called the carbage bag and that's what I use on the inside of my carbage bags because you can wipe it out. You can rinse it out and just let it air dry. It's reusable forever and kids are disgusting the things they put in car trash bags. So, this is very helpful.
The reason I'm putting it on this project on the inside is I want to protect this so that when I do throw everything in the bag at the end of the day at the beach or the pool, it doesn't matter if the wet swimsuit ends up next to this because this will protect it. We're not going to call this waterproof, but we will call it water resistant.
So, the rule of thumb for this project when you're making it is you're going to cut a pattern. I just used a piece of paper. Lay whatever it is inside like the center of that paper. And you're going to want to add 2 in onto the width of your item. So, this is 4 and 1/2 in across. So, I made this piece 6 and 1/2 in. Now, if you have some extra like buttons and stuff, you might even want to go 7 in. You may want to do it 2 and 1/2 in bigger. For today's project, I think 2 in is going to be fine. So, add 2 in to your width. And for the height, you're going to add at least an inch and a half if not an inch and 3/4, but an inch and a half is usually safe. So, that is going to fit nicely in there.
The other thing you're going to need is zipper by the yard. Now, I get my zipper by the yard on Amazon in a big bag and it comes with a million colors and a million pulls and this bag has been in my house for years and I still haven't used all of it. I'm going to use this cute green cuz I think it looks cute with the Holly Hobby fabric. So, I've already cut my pieces down to the size of my pattern. So, it's just exactly what that pattern is and I did a little bit of spray basting with this, and I attached my front cute Holly Hobby pieces to the dish mat, so they're stuck. And now we're just going to sew some lines. I'm not even going to call it quilting cuz it's really not. It's just sewing some lines to make sure all of this stays put. And to do that, I'm going to use this beautiful yellow happy thread. Oh, yellow. Is it not just like the most underrated color out there? I think so.
Oh, last thing you're going to need, two of those pieces cut the same. Everything's cut the same size on this project. And you're going to need two zipper tabs that are 2 in by 1 and 1/2 in. And these are for the ends of our zipper. Oh, last but not least, we can do this together actually. Let me show you.
When it comes to your zipper, we want to make this at least half of an inch shorter than the width of your bag. I might do just a hair more than that. So, cut that down. The main thing you want to see is that you still have room on either end here for your Kindle to slide in. So, as long as you've got zipper teeth sticking out on either side, you should be okay. At least you're going to lose about a quarter of an inch. This should be good. So, this is what we're going to go with. Half an inch shorter than the width of the top of your bag. Let's quilt some lines.
So, before we start sewing up this adorable little pouch, I need to give a huge thanks to FlexiSpot who's the sponsor of today's video. And honestly, this ties perfectly into what we're talking about because now that it's summer, it's time to slow down a little bit, and we're going to be doing a lot more reading. And for that, we need a lot of cozy places in our house. One of those spots that needed a little bit of attention is my littlest son's room. He's growing up, and he needed a big boy bed. We wanted to pick out something that felt sturdy, classic, and that could grow with him over time. So, we chose the FlexiSpot Kana Japanese Joinery Bed.
FlexiSpot is a global brand focused on ergonomic and space-saving furniture. And let me tell y'all, I have quite a few things from FlexiSpot. Both of my sewing tables are from FlexiSpot, and they are the jam. We also have a gorgeous recliner that we got from FlexiSpot and my kids fight over it all the time. They're known for combining functionality, quality, and modern style to create more comfortable living and working spaces in just the everyday home.
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>> [laughter]
>> Another helpful fact, if you are purchasing this for a child, is that not only did the slats stay securely in place and keep the bed really quiet, the frame is made completely out of rubber wood, which is a hardwood known for its hardness, strength, and durability, and it's not easily damaged. Which again, if you have kids, is very helpful.
One of my favorite things about this bed is that it has over 10 in of clearance space between the bottom of the frame and the floor. My son's room is not very big, so having that extra space underneath where we can slide bins of clothing that's out of season for the time being is super helpful. Toys, books, clothing, anything you want to store under there fits perfectly. This bed also comes with several different options. So whatever your aesthetic is, they have something that will work perfectly. You can purchase just the frame by itself or the frame with a headboard. The headboard comes as both hardwood or you can get a padded version. They have all different bed sizes and a bunch of different wood finishes to match whatever your room looks like. I love it when something is functional but also still classy and beautiful looking. And this just made his room look so much more grown-up. I don't know if I was ready for that, but here we are. My little dude's growing up.
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Okay, now that we've crafted the perfect cozy reading spot, I guess my Kindle needs some more fancy to live, too. Let's get back in the project. I've got my yellow thread loaded now. I'm using a universal 80/12 needle, and my stitch length for my quilting stitches, I'm going to put it up to a 3 and 1/2. First of all, it'll go faster. And second of all, I think it'll look nicer to have sort of a larger, longer stitch. And as far as quilting this, I think for today, I might just do some straight lines. Nothing crazy. Actually, I think I want to do um wavy lines, which I can do, because it's my sewing room, and I make the rules. So, for that, I'm actually going to up it to a four. And when I say wavy lines, here's what I mean. I'm going to go straight down the middle on this first one. I'm going to take my fabric and turn it back and forth to create real whimsical, just soft rolling waves going down the top of my bag. And I'm going to do those vertically, cuz I think that'll look really sweet. And they can overlap. You don't need a ton of them. Let's try and see if that does the trick. Oh, yeah, that's so cute. Okay. And you can start kind of alternating where you start at the top and going in from the left or the right. Yeah, love this. Okay. And the good thing about this one is there's no measuring involved and it really doesn't take very long cuz your pieces are not very big. Oh. That is so cute. Look how sweet that turned out. Okay, I'm going to repeat that on this opposite side and then I'll meet you back here and we'll start putting this bag together. It's going to take just a few minutes. You've got this. I'll see you back here in just a minute.
Here are our two pieces. I just think that's adorable. Now, let's move on to our zippers. Take your zipper which you now have cut to the right size and we're going to put our zipper pull on. Now, this is stressful for a lot of people. I usually like to hold it and put my left side in, hold that in place and put the right side in. Then I lay it down on the table and you have to sort of even up those zipper teeth so that they're matching across the way from each other. It's not going to zip well if you don't do that. They also make tools for this that make it easier like the zipper jig. I've seen people use a fork to get this sorted out. But I do find once you practice it a little bit, it gets easier.
Okay, so I've got my zipper pull on. Take those zipper tabs and you're going to fold the top down towards the middle and the bottom up towards the middle so they meet in the middle. And then fold the whole thing in on itself and I just finger press this. It's not really that serious that you need to go and press it with your iron, but if you want to, it's also fine. So, smash it down, lay your zipper tape into this part of the zipper tab that you just created and we're going to sew just right along this edge making sure that we catch all the layers of fabric in the stitch. And I'm going to put my stitch length back down to like a 2.5 cuz this is more utility than decorative. So, straight across. And then cut your thread. See that? Repeat that on the other side. Okay? I made this again. Kind of looks like a little heart.
>> [laughter]
>> And then lay your zipper tape in there. So, straight across. Works.
Time to put this bag together, y'all. We're almost done. That sounds crazy. Take one of your main pieces and actually mine ended up being just a smidge longer, so I'm going to cut that down so that I'm being accurate with where I place my zipper. Got that trimmed down. Going to switch to my zipper foot. This is your zipper foot. It's not scary. You can do this. Load that onto your machine on the left bar. Center your needle so it's right in this notch here. Take your zipper and you're going to lay it pretty side down and center it. So, you should have a little bit of leeway on either side here. Now, it looks like mine doesn't, so I don't know if it got smaller when I quilted it, but if that happens to you, let me show you. See how it's kind of the same length now? And that may be because this scrunched up. Who knows? But, it's fixable. And so, let me just preface this with saying I'm never going to show you like perfect sewing because I'm not a perfect seamstress. So, I'm going to trim the zipper right here and cut another tab. Let's see if this one it should be an half an inch shorter on either side. And now it is the correct length. So, whatever reason it got shorter, it's all good. And I've got this little scrap here so I can cut another piece. It's 2 by 1 and 1/2. But, yeah. I am not a perfect seamstress. So, when I make mistakes, I'm going to show those to you any and every time because who do you turn to when you're in your sewing space and all you have is a person on a video who's perfect and always doing things correctly? That's great, but you need that person in the dark times, too. So, if this happens to you, this is how you troubleshoot it. And it's okay. It's not a big deal. All right?
So, I just made a new zipper tab. My zipper is now I'm not even going to switch to my other foot. I'm just going to sew this straight on with my zipper foot cuz it's all fine. You want to switch back to your other foot, that's fine, too. But, now it should be the correct width. Yes. Okay, so now you can see I have a quarter inch sticking out right here and a quarter inch sticking out right there. Which is what we needed. So, I'm going to lay this down with my raw edge right up with my zipper tape. The zipper is face down. And grab your shower curtain liner and lay that on top. So, if it's easier for you to clip the zipper on first, that's fine. And then add your lining on there second, do it. All right. Lay this under your zipper foot and we're going to sew lining up the right edge of the bottom of this foot with the edge of the top of our bag. And it should move through pretty well for you. If you find that the zipper is not the zipper foot is not moving well across your shower curtain liner for whatever reason, you could always put a little piece of tissue paper or a piece of masking tape under your presser foot or put the tissue paper like on top there between the two layers and that should help it move a little bit easier. Move your zipper out of the way if it gets in the way. You can't sew around it. Just lift your presser foot and move it. And then we're just going to keep working our way across the top of this bag. This is what it should look like. Your zipper's like sticking out of the middle there.
Switch back to your zigzag or your whatever your regular foot is for your machine. We're going to fold this down to get this all out of the way and we're going to topstitch right here across the top of our bag. We do this for two reasons. When you topstitch and you're holding this lining down as you sew it, you will know that your lining will not get stuck in your zipper. It'll be out of the way of your bag. So every few inches I'm going to reach under there, pull my lining down. The other reason we put a topstitch in here is cuz it's pretty and we like pretty things. Gorgeous.
Now we're just going to repeat this whole process on this side of the zipper. So this one little thread is sticking up and irritating me. Get out of here. Okay, lay this straight down on top of the pretty side of your zipper and center it like you did with the first one with 1/4 inch on either side. And if you want to clip that in place, that's fine. It's your prerogative. And then take your shower curtain liner. I couldn't find the word because it's not really a common sewing material.
>> [laughter]
>> So in my head I was like, uh Clip that in and we're going to put that zipper foot on and sew right here. We're almost done. We're getting there. Ooh, this is going to be cute. I am on a mission to make everything in my life. Adorable.
>> [laughter]
>> So, that's what I'm up to. What are you up to?
Now, my zipper pull is in the way. I'm going to move it out of the way just till we get this stitch started. Line everything up nice and straight. Start sewing. So, I guess this would be a good time since we are on the topic of reading, will you let me know in the comments what a good book that you have read lately that you just really enjoyed? I would love to hear it. Please, drop it in the comments. I want to build my library this summer and even if I just read one book, I'll call that a win, but I like to have options. I tend to lean towards things that are like a little more fluffy. Um I'm okay with like a little bit of mystery, but I don't like scary things at all. Uh I'm afraid of like most Disney movies are too scary for me. So, light and fluffy is good. But, not like boring light and fluffy. I do enjoy good writing. I don't know. That's probably a hard niche to find.
Okay, we're going to top stitch this. Yes. Yes, we are. Right across the top here holding that lining out of the way. You can up your stitch length for this if you like. Yeah, so I would say and I like I like love stories. Um Yeah. I'm also I'm okay with the classics. Like I I like Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby are good books to me. So, I'm not like total scaredy cat.
All right, Here's what we've got. It's cute, right? Yes. Okay. Now, take your two main pieces and fold them up till they match. And we're going to clip those in place. I have to get some more clips. I think I need my bigger clips cuz these dish mats are thick. These are my bigger clips. Yep. Now, the most important thing to line up right here is these two right here like on both sides cuz that's going to be the top of your bag. So, we want to make sure that that is lined up well because that'll make the bag look nice when you turn it right side out. And we're going to clip around everywhere except I'm not going to sew through the whole bottom lining. I'm going to leave this whole space open because we've got to turn the bag right side out somewhere. And since we're not boxing our corners or anything on this, we can actually do this in one long stitch. So, I'm going to start this right here over, down, across, up, and then in here about an inch and a half and stop, okay?
Now, when you're sewing on just that lining, I'm putting my stitch length back down to a 2.5. That shower curtain liner is it rips real easily. So, just take your time and go slow. I'm going to do 1/4 in seam here, backstitch a couple times cuz we are going to put some pressure on that seam when we go to turn it out. Stop about a 1/4 in away. Turn it. I'm not at a 1/4 in yet. Let's get it one more. Maybe two. Now we got it. Straighten everything out and sew straight up. You want to make sure that you're capturing all of that fabric in every stitch. And as you go up this hill, just take your time climbing that dish mat. And that's okay. If you go slow, you should be fine. Flatten it out with your fingers, too, so that it moves through a little easier. Stay in that quarter inch.
So, down to your corner on your dish mat. Stop 1/4 inch away. Lift and turn. Keep going. I'm so excited for this. Oh, it's going to be so cute. And, I'll be honest, I'm excited to see your book recommendations in the comments. I think it's always interesting to see what other people like to read. Okay. One of my very favorite books, if you're looking for a book recommendation, and this is an old book. Like, it [clears throat] it was from a long, long time ago. It's called Time and Again by Jack Finney. It's up there on my list of some of my very favorite books, and I'll tell you, it's one of the only ones that when I got to like the action part of that book, I stayed up all night reading it. I was in my I was living at in my um apartment with two Yeah, my two roommates in college, my girlfriends from college, and I remember I had school that I had class the next morning, but I could not put that book down. Um and it was so good. So, it's not for everyone, but if you like um like time travel type books, it's a good one. It's really good book.
All right, I'm nearing the corner here. The saddest day I ever had, one of my saddest days was we went to McKay, which is a used bookstore here in Nashville, and I'm sewing just an inch and a half in here. And they have a free book bin outside of the store for like books that they don't think they can sell that like are not worth anything. And right on top was a copy of Time and Again by Jack Finney. And I grabbed it. I was like, "No, no, this does not belong in this book bin." Um I guess people just don't realize what a treasure it is. So, I'm here to tell you it is a treasure.
All right, I'm going to trim my corners. Cutting up to the thread, not through the thread. And now we're ready to turn this right side out. My favorite part. Now, you're going to want to do this carefully. Again, this is like gummy, like it rips very easily. So, the bigger you leave that hole at the bottom, the better. Move your zipper out of the way if you didn't do that earlier. And I like to reach in there and try and get all the way down to one of the corners if I can. And start kind of pushing it through. And you're going to start turning the bag out very slowly. Just a little bit at a time. There. Perfect. Wasn't so scary. And now we're going to straighten out all of those corners. So, anywhere that you have a corner that needs popped out, go ahead and do that now. And reach in there and do that in your main part of your bag. And because this is a little bit hard to reach, I'm going to grab my trusty knitting needle because that'll get down in those corners for me. I'm going to use the rounded edge first and just kind of poke everything where it's supposed to be. This is also a good time to eyeball all of your seams and make sure that you caught the fabric in all of them. And then, once you get it sort of where you need it, then you can poke those corners out a little more crisply. This is cute. You're cute. Love you. Okay.
All right, we need to just close up this lining. So, just take your edges here and roll them in and sew across the bottom. Again, it's not going to be waterproof. Like, we can't pour a cup of water in this and expect things to end well. But, when you're just going to throw some damp bathing suits that you've already wrung out, you know, in a wet towel, I think you're going to be perfectly fine to get home safely with that electronic in the same bag. Take that lining now, and you're just going to gently push it into the bag. I love that it even says Holly Hobby. Oh, it's so cute. This was the right choice for this fabric. I like anytime I find like something I can fussy cut, which means you're like cutting around the thing you really want in the project, that just it's so eye-catching. Flatten it out. Trim any of your threads that are just hanging around. Look at that.
All right, let's moment of truth. Let's see if the Kindle fits in there. It's like perfect. Oh my goodness. I see threads I want to trim. Look, guys. We did it. We made a little Kindle pouch, and it's absolutely adorable. You can make one of these, too. I This was not that hard, you guys. Follow the tutorial, pause it when you need to, take breaks as necessary, and believe in yourself because this is not hard sewing. It's just practice sewing. Things that you just need to do over and over again until you get comfortable. And then, you can take YOUR HOLLY HOBBY KINDLE holder to the pool and be the coolest girl there.
>> [laughter]
>> Guys, thank you so much for following along today. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. I'm Chelsea with She Sews Seams. If you like budget-friendly, accessible, easy-going, very laid-back, full of mistakes sewing, I'm your girl. Go ahead and subscribe to my channel so you can stay up-to-date on all of my upcoming projects. I've got some very fun projects coming in the next few months. Thanks again for following along and I'll see you next time.