Live and Learn – Kindle Cover Edition

I was blessed with an early birthday present from my parents – A Kindle!  I’m loving it!  I had some Christmas money left and thought I’d look at covers for my Kindle.  Then I saw the prices – Yikes!  They were $30-$40 each.  The cheapskate in me My frugal nature couldn’t see paying that much.   So the wheels started turning, and I consulted Mr. Internet.  I found a great tutorial for a DIY Kindle Cover and realized I had all the supplies already in my stash.  So it wouldn’t cost me a thing!  I had a new excuse to sew and it saved me money – how cool is that?!?!

This is the tutorial I used:

http://www.onepearlbutton.com/2009/10/tutorial-book-style-kindle-cover.html

I  made a few modifications.

2 pieces of fabric for the body of the cover, 14 x 9" (though I probably would add ½” to allow more room for the seams)
1 piece of accent fabric, 6.5 x 9"
2 pieces of sturdy cardboard or bookboard, 5.5 x 8"
Narrow elastic, half a yard or so – I initially tried to use pony tail holders instead.  They looked great, but weren’t very secure.   So I had to go back and redo it by hand with regular elastic.

1.       1.  First, I hemmed and sewed the accent piece.  Instead of hand sewing the pony tail holders, I attached them to the accent piece while hemming it.

2.       2.  Then I used Heat N Bond to attach the accent piece to the inside cover.   Then I topstitched around the accent piece.

3.      3.  Then I placed the cover pieces right sides facing each other and topstitch around them – leaving the Right Side open.  I then clipped the corners to make them more crisp when I turned the fabric right side out.

4.       4.  Put the cardboard piece inside and stitch next to it to create the binding. And then I did the next stich ¾” apart.  Added the second piece of cardboard.

7.       5.  Fold the raw edges to the inside and pin the cover shut. I used another pony tail holder for the elastic. (This one worked just fine).

And here’s the finished product after I fixed the elastic.  The pony tail holders were too stretchy so they were not securing the Kindle to the cover.  

The perfectionist in me sees all the little flaws, but overall I think it turned out pretty well.  This is the most advance project I’ve attempted with my new machine.  I learned some things about my machine with this project and I learned some things about the project itself.  Now that I know what to do, I think I could do this a lot easier for a gift for someone.  And I love my unique cover!  I like it even more because it didn’t cost me a penny!!!!