Making a Kindle Clutch

My mom got a Kindle for Christmas, so I decided to try to make her a clutch case for Mother's Day.

Here's how I did it:

1.  Make a pattern.  I placed my Kindle (which is the same as my mom's) on some tracing paper over my cutting board.  I cut the tracing paper to be about one inch bigger than my Kindle on all sides.  The pattern turned out to be about 7 inches tall and 10 inches wide.  Then I cut another piece of tracing paper that was 7x10.  I folded that one in half (the hamburger way - not the hot dog way) and cut it at an angle to make sort of a triangle.  This will be the pattern for the flap.

2.  Cut your fabric.  I used burgundy corduroy for the main fabric, green cotton for the lining, and a patterned corduroy for the flap.  Using the 7x10 pattern, cut 2 each of the main fabric, the lining fabric, and some cotton batting.  Using the triangle pattern, cut 2 of the flap fabric and one of the cotton batting.

3.  Attach batting to main fabric.  Layer the cotton batting to the wrong side of each piece of main fabric and sew a few lines across the fabric to quilt them together.  (I'm not very fancy, so I used straight lines perpendicular to the corduroy.)

4.  Make the flap.  Layer the 2 pieces for the flap, right sides together, with the cotton batting on top.  Stitch around 3 sides of the flap.  (You won't stitch on the "bottom" of the triangle -- this unfinished edge will be where you join the flap to the clutch.) Turn right side out, and topstitch around the 3 sides.


5.  Sew the front & back together.  Layer the two main fabric pieces right sides together.   Sew around 3 sides of these pieces.  The side that you don't sew will eventually be the opening of the case.  (I didn't take a picture of this step until I had turned the main fabric right side out again.)

Sew the front & back of the lining together. Layer the two lining pieces right sides together.  Sew around the 3 sides, but leave an opening for turning later.

6. Get ready to sew the whole case together.  Turn the main fabric right side out.  Pin (or baste) the flap onto the main fabric, lining up the unfinished edges.  (Just don't pin or baste the case opening closed!)

Insert the main fabric into the lining fabric (which is still inside out) so that the right side of the main fabric is together with the right side of the lining.  The top flap piece will be sandwiched between the main fabric and the lining piece.  Line up all your unfinished edges as best you can.

Now. This is important.  Don't sew your clutch closed!  Open up the clutch and insert your sewing machine in between the two layers of cotton batting that are sewn to the main fabric. Then sew all around what will be the opening of the case.

7.  Flip right side out using the opening you left in the lining.  Then stuff the lining down inside the main fabric and there you have it.  A Kindle clutch. 

8.  Finish as desired.  I left mine like this, but you could top stitch around all the outside edges.  And you can add something to keep the flap closed like a button or snap or Velcro or whatever.  My mom has arthritis in her hands, so I didn't add any closures.

I hope this tutorial was clear and easy and it inspires you to create something!

Box of Sunshine for my Grandma

My grandmother is a practical woman.  She's 91 years old and she doesn't *need* any gifts for Mother's Day.  In fact, she gets a little miffed when people spend money on her.  Well sorry, Grandma.  You are the best grandma ever, and I'm sending you a gift.  But I made sure it's practical.

I'm sending my grandma a box of sunshine.  This idea has been burning up Pinterest lately and I think it's adorable.  The concept is simple:  fill a box with yellow things and include a tag saying that you're sending some sunshine.

I got my tag from HappyMoneySaver.com.  (You can never be too sure with the internet, but the "box of sunshine" idea may have started here, too.  I try to give credit where credit is due, but sometimes it's hard to find the original!)

My boys and I searched the aisles of Target to find yellow things and here's what we came up with:

• Kleenex box
• Travel size Kleenex
• Burt's Bees bar of soap
• Antibacterial hand soap
• Zone bar (chocolate peanut butter flavor)
• Sunflower seed packet
• Butterscotch disks candy
• Butterfinger candy bar
• Peanut M&M's (I know she likes almond better, but peanut had a yellow bag!)
• Splenda Flavors for Coffee
• Lemon scented wipes from the "Dollar Spot"
• Travel size Wet Ones

See? Practical stuff.  She can't complain about that.

Then I made her a sunshine-yellow card and attached the fabric peony I made earlier.  (See this post for the peony instructions.)

I packaged it all up in a box with some yellow tissue paper and paper-punched sunshines.  How could you not be happy if you received this box in the mail?

Happy Mother's Day, Grandma.  You are such an inspiration to me.

{Pinterest Success} Fabric Peony Flowers

My grandmother has hedge of peonies that surround her garage.  Every spring, the plants are bursting with giant pink and fuchsia blooms.  She cuts a few to put on the table and the whole house benefits from their fragrance.

So when I saw this peony craft on Pinterest, I had to give it a try.

To read the instructions and view the original post, visit the Creature Comforts Blog by clicking here.

I dug through my stash of fabric scraps and also the remnant bin at JoAnn Fabrics, and found two different fabrics to use for this craft.  One of them worked better than the other.

The flower on the left was made with plain fabric, and the flower on the right was made with fabric that had little circles of bling on it.  You can't really see the bling in the picture.  But the blingy fabric was thinner and the flame seemed to eat it right up.  The plain fabric was a little bit thicker and held up better.  But I don't think either of my fabrics curled up as much as the ones in the tutorial.  Mine seemed to shrink instead.

But I think they both turned out kinda cute!  The tutorial was easy to follow with well-written directions, and there was even a video.

Now what to do with these beauties?  I think the bigger one will end up as part of Grandma's Mother's Day gift. (Good thing she doesn't read my blog!)  And the smaller, bling one will most likely end up as some sort of hair accessory for me.  Fun!

Now it's your turn to try something you've pinned to Pinterest!