Okay, so I finally got down to doing some proper sewing today...and
what a learning curve it's turning out to be. I didn't want to start on
anything big or overly ambitious so I decided to make cover for my
mobile phone.
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| It's a rectangular block; how hard can it be, right? |
I already had some idea of the type of
cover - a pouch/bag that can be tightened at the top with a drawstring -
I wanted. The sketch was easy enough..as were the measurements - or so I
thought.
 |
| Sewing the edge of the fabric so that it wouldn't fray turned out to be a challenge in itself |
First of all, I had no idea of how much
space I should leave at the edge - a seam allowance - for doing
reinforcement stitches (or something similar to prevent the fabric from
fraying. My "go to" book of the moment, the
BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook,
talked about how it generally gives a seam allowance of 1.5cm, which is
geared towards beginners. I thought, great, that's me so I'll just add
1.5cm on either side of the fabric for my mobile phone pouch.
 |
| It
started reminding me of Goldilocks - one was too long, one too big and
one too small (the white was a prototype to get a rough idea of how I
would sew the pouch) |
I had made a rough prototype out of some
old T-shirt material awhile ago to get an idea of how I would go about
sewing the pouch. After cutting, pressing and sewing the first one, I
realised that I had doubled the length I needed. The second time round, I
had given too much space for seam allowance. On the third try, I made
the seam allowance smaller but, as the material is cotton and
non-stretchy, it was too small for the phone (if it had been a
stretchable material, it would have been just right).
I was close to giving up when I decided to try again with different measurements. I pressed the cloth
and cut it as carefully as I could and sewed the sides and corners in
the order they were supposed to be sewed and finally came up with this
one.
 |
| Do we have a winner, yet? |
It's a double-layer (I just cut twice the
width I wanted and sewed it along the length to double its thickness)
mobile phone pouch - not as sturdy as one made with a heavier cloth but
definitely better than sewing a single layer as the first three were.
 |
| Close-up of the type of stitch I used for the edging |
It's not a perfect edge and it's far from a
perfect finished product but I'm relatively satisfied with this first
attempt of something I could actually use. I didn't have anything to use
as a drawstring so I twist a bit of the scrap material, pressed it and
strung it through the top loops and voila, a drawstring pouch for my
phone!
 |
| A new home for my phone |
In the end the measurements which provided
the
best fit were 9cm wide and 33cm long (folded in half so the bottom is
seamless and there is a 2cm allowance for the top loop). It's a slightly
roomy fit but 8.5cm would be too snug for this type of material. It
took me the better part of this morning and some of the afternoon to
make this and it was pretty good, despite the mistakes. Think I
might make another in a different pattern to see how it would turn out.
And it starts...
