Cell Phone Holder

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I finally finished my cell phone holder!  Remember my last post?  http://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2012/03/seam-rippers.html I was having all kinds of troubles!  My first one was too small!

I found a tutorial here:  http://erinerickson.com/2010/10/easy-iphone-sleeve-tutorial/  I looked at it, her measurements were for a different phone, got some ideas, and then did my own thing.  Be sure to check out her tutorial, it's great!  My first one would have turned out better if I had "listened".  I had pinned her tutorial and a FB friend saw it and asked me if I could make one for her, I said sure and wisely decided to make one for myself first, just in case!  I added a pocket and a wristlet strap.  I'll give you the tutorial and how I figured out my measurements.  I had left my camera at a friend's house and so I had to use my camera phone.  sorry the pictures aren't better.
First, measure your phone, then add one and half inches to two inches (see my measurements below).  The first one I only added a half inch for 1/4 inch seams, but I forgot that I would have two sets of seams, one when I sewed the two pieces together and another one when I sewed the folded part to form the case.
First thing I did was take the strips of batting I had leftover from the quilt and zig-zag stitched them together, side by side to avoid lumps.  I just hate to waste material!

You can use any kind of batting, old towels, fleece anything to give some padding to your case.
I am going to give you directions on how to make the case with a flap.  My case measures 4 inches by 7 1/4 inches.  My phone measures 3 inches by 5 inches today but when I measured it before I came up with 3 1/2 5 1/2 inches, I used a school ruler then and a tape measure today.  I thought I had added 1 1/2 inches, but I guess I added two inches.  I have an Android HTC sense and my friend has an IPhone 3GS and it fits both of our phones.  I cut two coordinating fabrics 15 inches (I added 4 inches for the flap) by 4 1/2 inches.
You then sew the batting onto the wrong side of the material that will be on the inside of your case.

My first case I added the pocket before I sewed the outside, pink and inside, brown together.  It looks better but is trickier as you can see by my crooked pocket in the smaller one.  You need to  fold your case in half and determine where you want the pocket then sew the pocket onto the outside of the material, pink side.
Next we put the tab for the keychain ring on.  Determine where you want it and tack it on, this is easier than trying to pin it.  Make sure the tab is next to the right side of the material facing in.  Also attach the wristlet in the same way and pin the wristlet down to insure that you don't accidently sew it.  I'll give you directions for the strap later.  The tab is just a piece of ribbon folded in half about two inches long.

Put your two pieces right sides together, I would recommend pinning them.  I sewed around them about a 1/4 of an inch, I just followed the outside of my foot.
For the flap, I drew a circle to make the flap end rounded.

I sewed where the tab was connected a couple of times to re-enforce it, it will get lots of tugging.  Turn it right side out.  Next sew across the top to close the hole, I left the straight side open for the turning since it would be covered by the flap.

Now, take your phone and see where you want it folded.  Notice how my tab is down low?  This is to allow room for my flap, you can always put it at the other end also and will end up in the same spot when you are done.  I used my disappearing ink fabric marker so I wouldn't have to wash it.  I folded it up and drew a line on the inside, I also pulled the flap down to see where I wanted it to go.

On this one I put the pocket on now, it's easier, but as not as polished, but the pocket is on straight!

I cut my pocket to the desired length and longer than the sides of the case so that I could fold it in, I used my pinking shears to help with the fraying.

I thought it looked better with some pink on the bottom showing.  I used heat and bond for the ribbon.  If your thread matches you can sew it on like I did with this one.

Of course you don't need a ribbon, I just liked the way it looked.  First I folded the top and and bottom then ironed it.  I then sewed the top and then added the ribbon.  Then I folded the sides of the pocket to the inside of the case and ironed again.   I used a glue stick to tack the pieces down until I could sew it.   I then sewed around the pocket.

It's hard to tell in the picture because they are both brown.

I folded the case back the way I want it to be when I sew it and pinned it half way up to leave room to sew on the velcro.  As you can tell I already sewed the velcro on, it doesn't matter if you do the velcro or pocket first.  You can leave the pocket off if you want, I just like the way it looks and can stick my drivers license in it if I go walking.  I decided where I wanted it to go on both sides of the case and marked one side heavily then pressed down to see where the mark landed on the other side.  Does that make sense?  I used the glue stick to tack down the velcro until I sewed it on.  You can't really see it in the picture I'm afraid.  I used velcro instead of a button or snap because I wanted to be able to get to my phone quickly.  Sew your velcro on with a pink thread that mtaches the outside of the case, I used a light color knowing I would be covering it with a yo-yo.  I used black once and it looked awful.

 






After sewing on my pocket and velcro I sewed about a 1/4 inch, using the inside of my foot as a guide to sew around the entire pocket.  Across the bottom up the side around the flap and back down again.  You want a small seam, it looks better.

I then made a small yo-yo and sewed it on with a green button in the middle.

I also added a key chain ring to it so I can attach it to my keys.

Here is my new phone case, I love it!  Now I need to make two more!
Update:  Last night I took the small case and seam ripped it apart and re-sewed it together.  It is now a little bigger and looks a lot better!

Have a great weekend ya'll, let me know if you have any questions!
Missy