DIY Network

Cell-Phone and MP3 Cozies Vinyl or oilcloth and felt come together to make cozies for phones and MP3 players. From "Uncommon Threads" episode DUCT-107

Torie Nguyen shows how to keep your cell phone and MP3 player safe in oilcloth or vinyl cozies.

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Cell-Phone Cozy

Cell-Phone Cozy

Materials:

1/4 yd. oilcloth or vinyl
1/4 yd. felt in a coordinating color
1/4" (6mm) eyelet and heavy duty eyelet/snap pliers
1" swivel snap clasp
kraft paper or flat paper bag for pattern
sewing machine
pencil or pen
scissors
pinking shears
fabric glue or pins
hook-and-loop dots

1. Measure the dimensions of your cell phone. Add 2.5" to the measurement across the front of the phone. (This will be wider than you will need it to be, but when working with oilcloth and vinyl, it's good to give yourself some leeway and trim off the excess later).

2. Double the length of your phone and add 3.5". Draw a rectangle of this size on your brown paper to make the pattern. Cut out the rectangle.

3. Roughly trace your cell phone in the rectangle with the top of the phone (not counting the antenna) 3.5" from the top. This will give you better guidance for cutting out the part that will be the flap. Draw a rounded flap in this top 3.5" of your rectangle so the antenna will not be covered by the flap once you put the phone in the cozy. Leave a 3/4" seam allowance around the flap.

4. Cut out your pattern that now includes the flap.

5. Cut out one piece of oilcloth and one piece of felt from your pattern for the body of the cozy and cut one strip of oilcloth 10"x1.5" wide for the handle.

6. Fold the piece for the handle in half widthwise, wrong sides together. Pin or glue as necessary. Straight-stitch down the center of this piece. Trim the edges with plain scissors or pinking shears to about 1/4" on each side of the stitching. Also trim the top and bottom if using pinking shears.

7. Place the felt and oilcloth pieces wrong sides together with the felt on top. To determine where to attach the hook-and-loop circles, place cell phone on the cozy, fold the bottom part up so the phone is inside and fold the flap down, so now you have the basic shape of the cozy with the phone inside. Stick circles where you want them on the inside of the flap (which is the felt) and the outer body of the cozy (oilcloth), then hand-stitch them in place.

8. Lay the cozy flat with the flap at the top and the felt and oilcloth still wrong sides together. Use fabric glue or pins to hold them together. Topstitch the bottom edge with a 3/4" seam allowance. Trim with plain scissors or pinking shears to about 1/4" from the stitches.

9. Topstitch along the top edge of the cozy, including the flap, with a 3/4" seam allowance. Trim with plain scissors or pinking shears to 1/4" from the stitches.

10. Fold the bottom of the cozy up until it meets with the top edges at the base of the flap. Slip one end of the handle down 1" into the left side of the cozy, between the front and the back, so you attach the handle at the same time you sew the sides of the cozy together. Pin as needed.

11. Place your phone in the cozy to see where you need to stitch up the sides. It looks nice if you line up the stitching on the handle with where you’ll be stitching up the left side. Be sure to give the phone enough room to make sliding it in and out of the cozy easy. Straight-stitch along both of the sides and trim with pinking shears or plain scissors to 1/4" from the stitches.

12. Place the other end of the handle through the base of the swivel snap clasp, folding 1" over to create a loop around the base of the clasp. Stitch widthwise across the fold to hold the clasp in place.

13. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, place a 6mm eyelet on the back of the cozy. If the cozy is face up, this will be the back right corner. This is where you attach the snap clasp, so make sure to put the eyelet close enough to the top for the clasp latch onto it.

Put your phone in and you’re ready to go!

MP3 Player Cozy

MP3 Cozy

Altering the cell phone instructions to make an MP3 player cozy (you’re going to make an envelope shape with a flap that covers the entire front of the cozy):

1. Measure your MP3 player. Add 2" to the width. Triple the length and add 4". Draw a rectangle of these measurements on your pattern paper and cut it out. Round the corners on the top third-plus-4" measurement of the rectangle to create the flap shape. You may need to adjust the width of the flap later so it is narrower.

2. Cut out one piece of oilcloth and one piece of felt from your pattern for the body of the cozy. Cut one piece of clear vinyl that is one-third the length of your rectangle and the full width.

3. Place oilcloth and felt wrong sides together and cut out a window (leaving the edges of the oilcloth in tact) so the screen and buttons on your MP3 player will be visible once inside the cozy.

4. Place the piece of clear vinyl in between the oilcloth and felt where you cut out your window. Topstitch around the window on the oilcloth about 1/8" from the window. This will help hold the clear vinyl in place.

5. Trim the bottom edge with pinking shears.

6. Follow step 6 of the cell cozy instructions to determine where to place the hook-and-loop dots on the cozy. The flap should come all the way down over the front of the cozy, wrap under the bottom and fasten on the back of the cozy. Hand-stitch the dots in place.

7. Fold the bottom edge of the cozy up so your MP3 player fits nicely behind the window. Pin to hold. Mark where to stitch along the sides so your MP3 player stays snug in the cozy. Remove the MP3 player and stitch along the two sides and top of the cozy.

8. Trim along side and top edges where you just stitched with pinking shears.

9. Punch a small hole using your eyelet/snap pliers or a small hole punch where you need a hole to plug in the headphones.

RESOURCES :

Dritz eyelet plier kit and refills
Website: www.dritz.com

Prym-Dritz fabric glue stick
Website: www.dritz.com

GUESTS :

Torie Nguyen
PDX Super Crafty
Website: www.pdxsupercrafty.com