Quilted Case Closed, Bring on the Sun!

Quilted case closed, bring on the sun, indeed! Today, we finish up the quilted sunglasses case with a blend of sewing and gluing.

As much as I love needle and thread, I feel they have some limitations. That’s when I go looking for Unique No Sew Fabric Glue – a good quality fabric glue.

Fight the temptation to use a glue gun. Sometimes, the glue re-melts in hot weather, and in cold weather, it can actually crack. Either way, whatever you glued doesn’t stay together.

• Attach the hook and loop tape. It comes in a variety of colors, and I found some that came in green. Cut about 1 inch of the tape. Use utility scissors, like the 8″ Razor Edge, for this because the hook and loop tape is tough to cut.
• Place the hook (rough side) on the inside of the closing strap, close to the end. Pin it in place. Match up the loop (soft side) with the hook part and pin to the case. It might take a couple of tries to get them to match up. Take your time.
• I prefer to hand sew these tapes into place. I’ve tried glue and iron-on bonding adhesives, but I have to say I prefer to sew it on by hand. You will need a really sharp hand sewing needle, a thimble and, some patience. The thread seems to gravitate to the hooks and can get really tangled if you aren’t careful.
• Once both sides of the hook and loop tape is sewn to the case and the strap, set the case aside.

• Download the flower and leaf embellishment. When printing it, make sure your printer is set to “no scaling” so that it prints out in the actual size.
• Make a couple of templates by gluing the patterns to some cardboard. A recycled cereal box works well for this.

• Trace the circle five times onto the fabric of your choice. Your flower can be one solid color, or have petals in different fabrics. Cut out the circles.
• Fold the circles in half and crease with a finger pressing tool. Fold in half again, using the pressing tool. You should have five little petals that look a bit like elf hats or ice cream cones.
• Thread a hand sewing needle with about 18 inches of thread, doubled and knotted. On the curved edge of the petal shape, make about 10 running stitches and push the petal down onto to the thread. Do this for all the petals.
• When they’re all on the thread, you should have a generous amount of thread before and after the chain of petals.
• Pick up the thread ends, carefully, since one end still has a needle on it. Tie the ends together. As you do this, the petals will come together and gather themselves into a circle with a bit of a hole in the center. Don’t pull too hard, but make the flower as snug as possible and tie about three knots to secure it.
• Clip the threads so that they are hidden in the flower.

• Run a bead of glue around the center of the flower. Place the button into the center. A button with a shank works well because it covers both the hole and the glue.
• Set aside to allow the glue to dry.

• Make a small quilt sandwich of backing fabric, batting and leaf fabric. On this, trace the leaf shape. Pin the layers together. Sew around the leaf shape using either matching or contrasting thread. Remove the pins. Use a satin zigzag to go around the leaf shape.
• If you wish, you can do some free motion quilting or other decorative stitching in the middle of the leaf.
• Use an embroidery scissor to cut out the leaf shape very close to the satin zigzag stitching. This is will a bit of a raw edge which will fray in a charming way over time. (You can start this process by running a bit of the hook side of the hook and loop tape around the edge.)
• Press the leaf. You may notice it twists a bit, just like real leaves. Don’t worry about it. It’s cool.
• You might be tempted to sew the leaf to the flower and then the flower to the strap. There are a lot of layers to go through, so I elected to glue the embellishment together and then glue the flower and leaf to the strap.

Allow the elements to dry for 24 hours. By then, the quilted case will be ready to store your shades because the sun has gone down and the day has ended — not unlike my week as guest blogger on QUILTsocial.

I had a blast. I hope you enjoyed the project.

This case is undeniably feminine, but you could adapt the design for manly sun shades by switching up the fabric and adding a plastic buckle to embellish the closure. You can also use the same techniques to make a phone or e-reader case. Just measure the dimensions and add at least a one inch seam allowance to those measurements.

I will be back next month with some more ideas I hope you’ll like. Until we meet again on QUILTsocial, take care.