How to sew a phone cover

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

 

How To Make A Phone Cover

 

 

To match the cushion cover I made in my last tutorial (see www.sewingbeefabrics.co.uk for all other tutorials), I made a phone cover. I wanted to make it both fun and practical, so I also added a pocket at the front of it with just enough space for a credit card or 2 as well.

What you will need:
2 Scraps of cotton a few centimetres bigger than you'd need to wrap around your phone

Same size piece of interfacing.

A contrasting piece (or 2 pieces to add together like I did) big enough to go round a credit card with about 2-3cm to spare to the side and 3-4 above.

How to make it:

First you need to draft your pattern. Simply lay your phone down in the middle of a piece of paper and draw around it. Add 3cm above it, 3.5cm to the side, then draw the same size next to it. On one of these rectangles, draw a tab about 5cm long at the top. You want the tab to sit centrally, so minus off your 1/4 inch seam allowance from the outer edge before finding your centre.

Cut this shape out once in an outer material, an inner material to line it, and a piece of medium interfacing.

My material I wanted to use as a pocket design was a little too small for a credit card so I mounted the picture on a bigger piece. On the pocket piece I turned the edges so they were folded twice to conceal the raw edge within the hem and pressed. On the picture piece I just pressed the raw edges under then pinned in place. Note the wider hem on the top piece of the pocket. This was to make it more durable as the hem wont get pulled around as easily with putting things in and out of the pocket frequently.

I then sewed the picture to the backing piece using an over edge sewing machine foot as an easy guide to give me a 1/8th inch uniform top stitch.

Next, I sewed the 2 sides and the bottom of the pocket to my top fabric piece. As the tab will come over the top of the phone pouch, you want the pocket to be on the other side. Add a button so that the tab can fasten onto it, but so that it will also prevent any credit cards from easily sliding out.

Now you want to make up the shape of the phone case and lining. Simply turn the fabric right sides inwards and sew down the side and the bottom to make 2 separate pouches, but attach the interfacing to the back of one of them first. I attached it to my outer fabric and used 1/4 inch seam allowance. I like to use a 1/4 inch quilting foot with a guide to make the job really easy and neat.

Place the lining pouch over the top of the outer pouch so that the right sides of the fabric face each other in the centre. Sew around the top edge leaving a big enough gap to turn the fabric right side out through. I found that it was easier to hand stitch around the base of the tab.

Now turn the phone cover through the hole. It will look wrong at first, but don't fret just yet!

Just poke the lining inside the outer material, then hand stitch the opening closed, with the raw edges tucked inside.

Now all that's left is to add your button hole to the tab.

If you need more help on how to do that, check out the tutorial link below. Now all you need to do is pop your phone and credit card in and show it off!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk. Don't forget to visit our SHOP.
Happy Sewing!

How To Make An Easy Cushion Cover

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

How To Make An Easy Cushion Cover

 

Having been asked to make an unusual cushion cover for a birthday present, this was the really easy-to-make cover I came up with. This project is perfect for beginners and experienced levels alike.

What you will need:
Half a meter of cotton for the outer pattern ( I used Michael Miller for the hedgehogs. Check out our range of Michael Miller fabrics HERE)
2 squares of 27cm x 27cm of the centre pattern in cotton

How to make it:
A cushion is typically about 45cm x 45cm,  so allowing for 1/2 inch seams I cut 5 pieces 27cm width x 22cm height and 2 pieces 47cm height x 42cm width from my half meter piece.

I joined both the 27cm x 27cm squares with a smaller rectangle piece placed above and below, by placing them right side together and sewing 1/2 inch from the edge. I pressed seams open as I went to give a neater finish.

On one side you will need to make an opening to get a cushion in, so pick a back and a front. On the top sewn rectangle on the back, I folded the top edge, then folded again so the raw edge was underneath itself and sewed the hem so that all raw edges were completely enclosed. I did a matching hem on the bottom of the 5th smaller piece (the last small rectangle piece that isn't attached to anything yet).

Next I faced the 2 main sections right side together and pinned the long vertical sections to each side. This is easier to do by folding the main panels in half so the new pieces are central. Lay the 5th spare piece over the top of the other hemmed rectangle and pin down the edges with the rest of the seam.

This should create a letterbox effect with the 2 hemmed edges. This will be where you poke your cushion through.

Sew the vertical seams then fold the vertical panels in half so the smaller cotton pattern sits centrally. Press in place.

Pin and sew the top and bottom then turn right side out through the letterbox opening.

Now all you have to do now is stuff a cushion in!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk
Happy Sewing!

More sewing tutorials available at www.sewingbeefabrics.co.uk

How to Sew Buttons and Buttonholes by Sewing Machine

Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial

 

How To Sew Buttons on By Machine

All our sewing machine feet are available HERE


Attaching a functioning button by machine really is simple. It just needs 2 little sewing machine feet, so start off by unclipping your current foot.

To make the buttonhole, you can use this presser foot with either a 1 step or 4 step buttonhole setting. A 4 step buttonhole setting on a sewing machine should look something like this.

First you need to decide how big you need your buttonhole to be for the button to fit through. To do that, place your button in the buttonhole presser foot (or if it is too big, next to the attachment) at the end which is closest to you. Note the markings on the side of the attachment are there to help you remember the size of your button. You don't have to only make buttonholes at a marked level. Don't forget that this is the standard way to measure for a flat button.  Raised buttons marry need more room, so it's always best to practice on a scrap of fabric first to make sure the button will go through.

A one step buttonhole does the whole buttonhole for you, but the 4 step
buttonhole needs you to manually change stitches. So I will show you how
to do that.

Set the attachment at the length of your button and select stitch 'a/c'. This will sew a side to side. You need this to be anchored in well or when you open your buttonhole it could break and the material could rip. So I would sew at least 6 times.

Next, select stitch 'd'. This sews a right sided zigzag stitch and brings you to the front of your buttonhole. Note that your stitch length will effect your zigzag. You will rarely find a satin stitch used on a buttonhole, but I would recommend a short stitch length.

Step 3 is a repeat of step 1, but this time you are just at the other end of the buttonhole.

Finally, select stitch 'b'. This is a left sided zigzag that will bring you back to where you started.

I prefer to always sew a buttonhole twice over so I know it can withstand heavy usage.

The only thing you have left to do is open up your buttonhole. Ideally using a seam ripper (or scissors) slide down the centre of the material being careful not to cut the end stitches.

Your buttonhole is now complete, so let's move on to the button itself. To use the button attaching foot you must either lower or cover your feed dogs depending on your machine type. This is because you need to stitch on the spot so you don't want your machine pulling your fabric away from you. If you have covered your feed dogs, don't forget to pull your bobbin thread up through the opening in the cover.

Select a zigzag stitch then by hand, lower and raise the needle until you have the stitch width needed for the needle to go into each buttonhole. You may need to jiggle the angle of the button under the foot to get it lining up perfectly.

Then start sewing. The amount of times you go through the button will depend on its use, but I would recommend again, a minimum 6 times into each button hole. If your button has to go through a thick fabric or lots of layers you may wish for your button to be freer from the fabric so that once it is pulled through, it sits comfortably on top. You are more likely to be able to do this by machine if you can lower your feed dogs as often the cover for feed dogs takes up too much space, so a spacing item wont fit. If you do have plenty of space under the button and presser foot, simply place something narrower than the width of the holes under the button between the holes (eg. A chopstick), to raise the button away from the fabric as you stitch. To reduce the chance of it slipping, lower the needle by hand for the first couple of stitches. I prefer to reinforce this by looping thread around the thread under the button a few times and tying a knot by hand immediately after removing the item, before it has time to slacken.


Your button is now ready for use!

We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk