A red-riding hood box case for a Galaxy Ace

A month or so ago I accidently destroyed my mobile phone. This was my old, reliable, Nokia that cost £7 and could do nothing fancier than send text messages and make calls. Oh, it also had a torch. On the night of Diwali I left it next to a bottle of water. The condensation from this bottle then formed a pool around my poor phone. It's battery was completely destroyed. 

Old phone and new phone

So I was forced to buy a new one. I had been sneaking covetous looks at my boyfriend's smart phone so bought one similar, but an older model (I don't need to go overboard with the fanciness). As I had a new phone I needed a new case (old phone didn't even have a case so unconcerned for it's well-being I was).

I pulled out the pelmet vilene, bondaweb, fabric scraps and embroidery thread and started to make a case.

Measuring

Checking for size

Pieces waiting for assembly

Ta da!

It is ever-so-slightly too big. Blast! And I did so much measuring. I think the problem was that I gave a seam allowance which I didn't need because I sewed the pieces up using blanket stitch. It is fine for it's purpose though.

The great big stitched postcard swap

I joined the do what you love great big stitched postcard swap. The theme was 'Discover'. Above is the postcard I sent my swap partner in the U.S.A. You can't see it too well in this photo but I stitched around the M25 circular and sewed on beads for each place name within London. I made the map in a similar way to my mixed media book cover. But with more pastels.

This is what she sent me:

Very cute and lots of fun.

Embroidering the hot-house

The Hothouse at Kew Gardens

A few weeks (months?) ago I went on a school trip to Kew Gardens. As well as ushering year 8s around the gardens I also took some photos. I was particularly inspired by the outside of the hothouse where the plants were pressing to the glass. I really liked this effect and decided to christen my new sewing machine by making an embroidery based on it.

I dug through my piles of fabric scraps for green fabric. Turns out I don't have much green fabric. I assembled six pieces of greenish fabric (including one scrap of green chiffon scarf).

The third picture is me free-machining trailing leaves. Woo-yes! This was my first time. During the process I wore sunglasses as shields for my eyes because I was afraid of the needle snapping off and embedding itself in my eye. Actually I ended up taking them off because it was evening, dark and frankly the glasses were making it difficult to see.

And then I broke the needle.

But it stuck in the fabric and not my eye! Huzah!

For some reason the free-machining Gods then decided to revoke my free-machining prowess. So I had to do my bigger leaves with the foot on. The bigger leaves I then cut through to reveal the fabric underneath.

I also sewed on felt leaves and machine embroidered leaves onto the fabric. Then I covered the whole thing in some plastic table-cloth I bought at a local shop and sewed it down.

This is when I broke the second needle.

I wanted to give the whole thing the impression of being through glass.


This is the final result:

Some close-ups:

It's eeeeever so slightly wonky. Oops. It feels nice and weighty though.

xxx