Phone Case Tutorial

Here's my dinky little patchwork case for a mobile phone.   It's a fun little make for yourself and perfect for gifts too.  I hope you enjoy it.

The measurements given below will fit the new iphone 5, as that's what I have, but you could easily adapt this for the iphone 4 or any other mobile for that matter.

Here's what you'll need...

1.  30 squares 1 1/2 x 1 1/2" for the case body (to make a finished size of 5 1/2 x 6 1/2")

2.  1 strip of fabric 1 1/4 x 6 1/2"

3.  2 pieces of fabric 3 1/4 x 2 3/4"

4.  1 piece of lining fabric 6 1/2 x 6 1/4" 

5.  1 piece of wadding roughly 7 1/2 x 6 1/2"

6.  A small piece of Velcro

7.  Ribbon, approximately 4 or 5" long and no more than 3/8" wide.

8.  Embroidery thread (if you want to add some hand quilting touches)

Sew all edges with a 1/4" seam.

Let's get started!

First of all arrange your 30 small 1 1/2" squares (No. 1) into a pleasing arrangement and sew them together, ironing as you go,  to make your patchwork fabric.

Then line up the fabric strip (No. 2), with the top (longest) edge, faces together, and sew along top edge.  (As marked with the black dotted line in the picture.)

Iron this strip open and the outer part of your case is ready.

Take your two smaller pieces of fabric (No. 3), these will become the closing flap for the case, so if you'd like to add some embroidery or appliqué to one of the pieces, now would be the moment.

Place the pieces right side together, and using the base of a cotton reel or something of appropriate size, draw some rounded corners to the top two corners of the fabrics.  (This curved edge with be at the bottom when the flap is closed, so make sure your decorative touches (if you added any) are the right way round.  (See the picture of the finished flap below to see how it should look.)

Cut around these drawn corners to create a nice rounded shape and sew around 3 sides, as show by the dotted line in the picture.

Add a few snips into the seam fabric (taking care not to cut through your stitches of course), then turn right side out.

Iron nice and flat and your flap is ready to go.

Take your piece of ribbon (No. 7), fold it in half and line it up with the centre seam of your patchwork.  Then line your flap up (decorative side down) to the left of the ribbon.  The left hand edge of the flap should be slightly more than  1/4" away from the left edge.  This is very important as we'll need to sew down this edge later and you really don't want to catch the flap in your seam.  Pin ribbon and flap in place.

Take your lining fabric (No. 4) and place this face down over the top and pin in place.  Sew along the top edge as shown by the dotted line in the photo.  This will secure your flap and ribbon in place.

Make sure you press the lining seam towards the thin fabric strip, as shown in the picture.

Take your batting (No. 5) and cut a straight line along one edge.

Line up the straight edge you have just cut with the seam you have just sewn and pin in place.

Make sure the top edge of the wadding covers the seam you've just pressed down.

I like to sew a line just inside this top edge of the wadding, just to hold in securely in place at this stage.  It just makes it all sit nicer when the case is turned the right way round at the end.

If you'd like to add any quilting, you can do that now.  I usually like to hand quilt but you can do it by machine if you prefer.

Once the quilting has been done, cut the excess wadding from around the patchwork.

Take one side of your velcro piece (No. 6) and add that the center of the right hand side of the pouch, just below the fabric strip at the top.  (As shown in the picture)  I line it up with the middle of a square.

Now we need to fold the whole case in half longways, so the right sides of the lining are against each other and the right sides of patchwork are against each other.  We're going to sew around the case, leaving a 2 inch gap along the edge of the lining fabric.  (See black dotted line in the photo)

TIP:  Pin in place, making sure you line up the seams of your patchwork squares for a neat finish at the end.

Once the seam is sewn, cut off the four corners to reduce bulk.

Now it's time to turn the case the right way round.

Sew up the gap in the lining fabric.  I like to hand sew this but you could run your machine along it if you prefer.  Just make sure you keep nice and tight to the edge.

Push the lining fabric down into the pouch.

Almost there now.  The only thing left to do is to take the other side of your velcro piece (No. 6) and folding the flap down, line up the correct position on the flap for the case to close nicely.

Once you have your position right, pin and then sew the velcro piece in place.

That's it, you did it!

I hope you enjoy using this tutorial to make your phone a snazzy and stylish little case.

If you have any problem, just drop me a line.


S x

♥


UPDATE - 8th May 2013: I've now added the size of the fabric you require to make the flap.  A big thank you to Mandy for pointing that out!