Making a Quilted Eyeglass Case: Step 4

Next, I cut a piece of felt to the same size as the quilt top (*Tip: go a little bigger than the quilt top.  You can always trim the edges, and I found it tricky to line this part up otherwise.)  Place the quilt top face down and place the felt on top, lining up the edges.  Fold the quilt and felt in half.

Next, I sewed along the side edge, all the way through both sides of the felt and quilt top.  Make sure to leave enough space at the edge so the thread doesn't pull through the felt when you turn the piece right side out.

Next, I squeezed the bottom of the case together, making sure to line up the front and back diamond pattern (*the side seam you sewed will end up about an inch or so from the side edge of the case for the bottom seam).  Then I simply sewed along the bottom edge.

Next, I turned the eyeglass case right side out, making sure to pop the corners out as best I could.

Last but not least, I cut the piece for the top binding (*I learned to leave cutting this piece until the end since the finished size may vary a little.)  I cut this to be about half an inch longer than once around the top of the case.  Then, I pressed a 1/4" of each side of the top binding under with the iron, then folded in half and pressed again.  (* You press the edges under so that the fabric won't show fraying).  

Next, I hand sewed the top binding to the top of the case going all the way through both sides of the binding and  one side of the quilt top and felt.  And so we have:  The FINISHED EYEGLASS CASE!! Here are some pictures of all three of the eyeglass cases I made.

Sewing a Quilted Eyeglass Case: Step 3

Next I arranged the strips diagonally and sewed them together to form the diamond pattern for the front and back of the case.

Next I trimmed the edges to make a rectangle, leaving 1/4" of fabric at the edges of the diamonds for the seam allowance.  After that, I sewed the two diamond patterned pieces with the cut side pieces.

And that completes the quilt top!  The last step will be to sew the quilt top together with some felt to make the completed eyeglass case.

Sewing a Quilted Eyeglass Case: Step 2

After sewing the three strips together, I ended up with a multi-colored strip that will become the diamond pattern for the front and back of the eyeglass case.

After sewing the three strips together, I trimmed the edges straight and cut them into 1.75" sections.

I ended up with about 10 sections from each set of strips.  Then I chose 7 from each set to sew together to make the front and back of the eyeglass case.

First Project: Sewing a Quilted Eyeglass Case

So I just recently bought a sewing machine with the intent of getting into quilting.  But of course I didn't want to start out on a giant quilt so I looked around for a smaller project I could start with.  I found this free pattern for a Quilted Eyeglass Case.  I am currently in the process of making 3 of these: 1 each for myself, my mom, and my sister.  This is a great beginner project.  I will be posting the first step today, followed by the rest of the steps in the days to come.  If the colors seem to change in the different pictures it is because I'll be using pics from the 3 different cases I made throughout.

My first step after cutting the pieces (sorry no pics) was to sew the 3 different colors together one at a time.   The middle strip measures 1.75" X 18", while the other two strips measure 2" X 18".

For each strip, I pinned the strips together right sides facing and lining up the edges.

Then I sewed the strips on the sewing machine using a 1/4" seam allowance (this means the distance between the needle and the edge of the fabric is 1/4"), making sure to pull out the pins as I sew.

Come back later for the next step!

First Post: Background

Before my first official post let me give a little background of myself and my vision for this blog.  I have been into crafts my whole life, and especially the last few years.  I taught myself to knit several years ago, and am just beginning to learn to crochet and to sew.  I plan to eventually post some pictures of some of my past knitting projects, probably to fill in the gaps when I don't have a new project to share or just don't have the time to post a full project.  This blog will be pretty casual, but I will try to update it semi-frequently with new projects.  Thanks for tuning in!