Say Cheeeeese!!

Guess what I bought for myself!

YUP! A new Nikon Coolpix P100 camera!

I love, Love, LOVE it already!!

But, it came with an UGLY black

case… with no strap?

I mean, what is THAT??

Well, I needagottahave a new case, right?

Soooo, I made one!  You like? 

Feeling a bit guilty about spending yesterday afternoon and this morning in the sewing room instead of taking down Thanksgiving decor and going out and getting the tree and getting the Christmas stuff out of the basement and getting the house decorated… sigh…

BUT, in my defense, I couldn’t let my new camera just sit around with no cozy safe home, right?

Sooooo, wanna see how I made it?

I used 34 charm squares, fusible fleece, a bit of yardage for lining and strap, a bit of Velcro and some cool buttons.

I trimmed the charm squares to 4 1/2”.

I sub-cut them into three 1 1/2” strips,

then sewed 4 different strips together.  You’ll make 25 blocks but will only use 22 for the bag, unless you choose to made the extras into more pockets. 

I laid them out in two rows of 6 blocks, alternating the direction of the strips, then added 2 blocks for the bag bottom- use photo as a guide!

Stitch them all together, press well, then lay it on top of fusible fleece and cut out 2 layers of fleece- pay attention to the sticky side of the fleece!

Quilt the bag piece any way you like.

Lay this piece right sides together on top of lining fabric and fusible fleece and cut out one of each.  Fuse the fleece onto the wrong side of the lining.

Layout 6 more blocks in three rows of two each for the top flap.

Stitch them together, trim off the bottom corners

and then fuse on one layer of fleece, cut out  a matching lining piece

and sew them right sides together, turn right sides out and quilt as desired!!

Select 2 blocks for inside pockets and cut out two 4 1/2” squares from lining fabric.  Put right sides together, sew around the squares, leaving an opening to turn them through.

Press well and pin on lining above the bottom rectangle.

Stitch around three sides through the lining and fleece to secure the pockets.

Sew the short ends together on both the outer bag and lining pieces.

  

NOTE- leave a 4” opening in that side seam on the lining piece.

Next pin then sew the three seams to form the bottom of the bag

on both the outer bag and lining pieces.

Cut out a fabric piece 6” by 32” and       a 2” by 32” piece of fusible fleece, for the strap.  Fuse the fleece onto the wrong side of the fabric about 1 1/2” in from one long side. 

Press that 1 1/2” fabric over the fleece then press the other long side about 3/4” in toward the center. 

Now press that side over the other side and all raw edges are enclosed. 

Topstitch through all thicknesses… I sewed three lines of stitching on each long side with variegated thread.

Now, we’ve finished all the different pieces and can assemble the bag!

Pin the top flap and strap ends to the top of the outside bag and stitch on using a 3/8” seam allowance.

Pin the lining to the outside bag around the top seam with right sides together. 

Sew the seam slowly, removing the pins as you get to them…

this is a really thick seam so be careful!

Turn it right sides out through that lining side-seam opening.

Pin and stitch this seam closed.

Pin the top seam flat and topstitch through all thicknesses about  3/4” down from the top. 

Again, this is a VERY thick seam, so go slow and be careful!

Almost done!  Cut two matching pieces of Velcro to fit in the flap point.

Hand sew one piece to that flap point and the other piece at the matching place on the bag front.

I added three buttons sewn on top of each other on the front flap for fun!!

I am realllllly liking the look of this!!

It would be a cute purse, too!!

You could also use the remaining three blocks to add more pockets inside or even here on the back, right?

So, you like????

(Notice I made a strap cover out of the leftover backing fabric from my Orange Slice quilt…took like 3 minutes to make!!)

And guess who slept the whole time I was making this in my sewing room??

YUP!!  My little snoozer, Yogi!!

MAN, he gets the BEST sleep!!

So, what did you do today?