Quilted Case Closed, Bring on the Sun! by Nancy Devine June 13, 2014 written by Nancy Devine June 13, 2014 661 Quilted case closed, bring on the sun, indeed! Today, we finish up the quilted sunglasses case with a blend of sewing and gluing. Grab a silicone thimble. There’s some hand sewing involved in closing this case. 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. Use utility scissors to cut hook and loop tape. 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. Cut out five circles and trace the leaf onto a quilt sandwich. 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. Folded petals. Folded petals almost gathered. Petals gathered into a flower shape. 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. Run some glue around the center of the flower. That’s where the button will go. 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. The quilt sandwich becomes a leaf with some well placed threads. Glue the embellishment together. There are too many layers to sew through. 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. Print this page or save as a PDF buttonsfabric glueflowergood quilting threadhook and loopquilting pinsquilting projectquilting rulerquilting scissorsrotary cutterthimbles FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinRedditWhatsappTelegramEmail Nancy Devine Nancy Devine is a self-confessed craft-crazed blogger. She is a regular contributor to A Needle Pulling Thread Magazine, one of the administrators for The Craft Café, a Facebook page devoted to the international sharing of the creative life, and a curator of an impressive collection of fabrics, notions and seam rippers. In her spare time, she wrangles dust bunnies and writes a blog called Nancy Dee Needleworks. Understandably, her house is a mess. previous post The Case of the Sunglasses Continues … next post The Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 – Out Of The Box & Into The Studio YOU MAY ALSO LIKE... DIY quilted Christmas ornaments with Bosal Foam Stabilizer Gütermann Metallic Threads add beauty to your quilting... Add Festive Sparkle to your quilts with Gütermann... Effortless holiday quilting with UNIQUE Pressing Mat and... Quilt a Merry Christmas Table Runner with HeatnBond... 6 easy steps to assemble a quilt using... 5 simple sewing notions make fun blocks for... Use hook and loop tape to make peek-a-boo... 5 easy steps to make chenille fabric 2 comments Joan June 22, 2014 - 4:12 pm This glasses case is really cute! Great idea adding the flower and leaf. Reply Nancy Devine June 22, 2014 - 5:53 pm Thank you, Joan! It was a lot of fun to do as well. I hope you enjoyed your visit to QUILTsocial. Reply Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.