Phone Cover Finished and Gifted!

Hey all! I have two finishes this week, but only one I can show you. Hopefully, I'll have three more finishes by the end of this weekend, all secret though, unfortunately. But next Friday they'll be gifted and I can show you!! Yay!

So, the phone cover. I decided to get Paul his first smartphone for Christmas. It's for his Irish number but because he can use lots of apps with wifi for free in America, which has lots of free wifi, it'll be so much easier for us to stay in touch! Then, I was like, well he'll need somewhere soft to keep the phone so it doesn't get scratched up in his bag or against his keys, etc, etc... And I still have some of the Pac-Man fabric and the lovely brushed cotton rainbow fabric, PERFECT!

Sorry for the picture quality, but I did this late one night when I just needed a FINISH of any sort.

The cover took hardly any time to do. I have exactly the same phone I bought Paul, so I just used that for sizing. It turned out a little more snug than I'd anticipated, but at least it won't fall out easily! First I cut the outer Pac-Man fabric to size, and cut a piece of batting the same size, but one inch shorter in height.

I cut the inner fabric the same size as the batting, but slightly shorter in length (as it has to fit on the inside). The picture above is me figuring out the sizing. Then I quilted the outer fabric and batting, just in straight lines, nothing fancy! And folded it over and joined up the edges to make a it into a little pocket.

Turning bias tape into the loop took the longest time!

I attached a loop for the closure to the brushed cotton interior, and then sewed it closed so as no seams would be on the interior to scratch the phone. Then I sat one into the other, and sewed it closed at the top by folding over the extra length on the Pac-Man fabric. I tried to do that with the machine, but it went horribly wrong, twice. So I gave up, unpicked it all and sewed it closed by hand. Much much faster!

And voila!

The yellow button just glows no matter where I take the picture...

I'm hoping that some time soon I can replace the yellow button with a Pac-Man badge (button), and keep those ghosts on their toes!

I'm linking up today to Link a Finish Friday #47 and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? - I've wanted to make a phone cover for ages without using a tutorial, but have been putting it off. Necessity for Christmas gifts at the last minute will get you over the fear!!

Sew Solids Crew Monthly Stash Club

It arrived yesterday. Just after we'd locked ourselves out of the house! Made me so fricking happy. Loved the pink parcel and the blue tissue and then the PURPLES!!!! Amazeballs. Thanks Justine!
My plan is to make a Japanese x and + quilt like Badskirt Amy's. I'll be using texty prints for the background. They arrive from America tomorrow with Paul :D
Woohoo for Christmas, fabrics, and Paul!!!!
PS let me know if the links are off, first time posting from my phone!

Coffee Press Cosy

Today I'm linking up to Link a Finish Friday at Richard and Tanya Quilts (check it out, a pic of my quilt from last week is on today's blog! happy dance), sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop (how cool!).

The coffee press in question is a fairly recent buy of Paul's, and it lives in our flat in D.C. and makes him feel all grown up and fancy. Since then he's even bought a coffee bean grinder to get even more sophisticated! So for his 30th birthday on Monday, I needed a present that would easily ship from Ireland to the States and I thought Coffee Press Cosy!! Ages ago I had bought this material to make something for him, but with no idea what to do... Perfect opportunity to use up my stash :)

Pac-Man!!!!!! It's also really soft.

I used the Pac-Man material as the front and back, with a layer of 100% cotton batting in between.

Et voila! You'll notice I didn't cut anything particularly straight or anything...

Then I quilted in straight lines with black thread, in between the circles (which didn't line up on the back, so Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde got somewhat sewn over... good news for Pac-Man!). I bound the cosy in red bias tape.

Bias tap pinned onto the back, slight fuzzy...

Unfortunately, I decided to put on the binding as I do with quilts. Then I realised that I didn't have quite enough bias tape and that it would make the corners super bulky. So the corners are quite bad, and will fray and fall apart at some point. Inevitable, as it will get spilled on and have to be washed.

I couldn't get the camera to focus, but you can just make out the white hole at the corner :(

But then I realised that I live with him, when it falls apart I can buy more bias tape and fix it. And next time I'll refer to this post and remember to DO IT BETTER! Velcro was the fastener of choice, as the cosy will have to be taken on and off so the coffee pot can be cleaned, and it needs to fit under the handle to get all close and cosy with the glass!

Velcro!

So, the cosy has been finished a while. I had to send it off to reach Paul in time for his birthday. It arrived early and he was very good and didn't peek at all! But I couldn't post the finish here cos he would have seen... But it's all good. The waiting means that now we have a photo of the finished product on the coffee pot it was intended for!

Perfect fit! Yay!!!!!

:)