I recently upgraded to the iPhone 6 and this gave me a good excuse to get out my sewing stuff and design a cover for it! I bought a plastic one too but I really don’t want to scratch the screen or anything, so a fabric case/pouch is perfect for protecting it whilst it’s in my bag or my pocket. There were two main things that I had in mind for this project: 1 – it had to be as slimline as possible, given that the phone itself is (and what is the point in making it really bulky?!); and 2 – it had to include some sort of thing for keeping my headphones nice and tidy. If there’s one thing I don’t like, its a knotted pair of headphones rattling around in my bag! 

 

So I had a little think (and a cup of tea to help) and decided that a loop type thing with velcro would be great to keep it all together. I’ve designed it so that the loop is a little wider than the ear pieces, so it should cover and protect them when they are wrapped around the edge. Yay! I had these lovely fabrics in my stash – the geometric print is from the Helen’s Garden collection by Tamara Kate for Michael Miller (not sure if it’s still available) and the plain is a Moda solid colour, but it has been in my stash for ages and I can’t remember the shade! Anyway, you can use any contrasting fabric that you like for this project, and you don’t need a lot either which is great. I made this in a couple of hours, and that included stopping to take photos, so you’ll be able to make it in no time! Adapt for any phone that you have too, and leave out the headphone loop if you’d rather 🙂

 

You will need:

 

A fat quarter of two different cotton fabrics (although you actually use much less than this, so raid your stash!)

A 21 x 21cm piece thin cotton wadding

Some bias binding (I used fabric to match the lining and made my own, but you could use a third fabric for this if you like)

Thread to match your fabrics

Sewing machine

Fabric scissors

A pencil

An iron

About 5cm velcro

Pins and needle

 

Step 1

 

Cut a 21 x 21cm piece of lining and outer fabrics. Put the outer to one side for now and then fold the lining in half. Place your phone on the fabric, about half a centimetre from the folded edge, and draw around it lightly with a pencil.

 

 

Step 2

 

Pin a little away from the line you have just drawn, and then stitch along the bottom and up the open side – remember to leave the top open! You can stitch along the line here, but no need to stitch along the folded edge. Once cut, trim the seam allowance to half a centimetre.

 

 

 

Step 3

 

Next, if you want to include one, start making the headphone loop (or skip to step 8 if you don’t want to!). Cut out a 12.5 x 21 cm piece of your outer fabric, fold it half with right sides together and press. Then stitch along three edges as shown, with a seam allowance of half a centimetre. Trim this to 3mm once stitched and then turn out and press again.

 

 

 

Step 4

 

Place the 21 x 21cm square of outer fabric face down on your surface, with the wadding on top. Place your phone inside the lining and then put it on top in the position it needs to be in. Fold over the wadding and outer fabric in order to work out where the loop needs to go.

 

 

Step 5

 

Place the loop on top of the fabric – I put mine towards the bottom, but you can put it where you like really. Then, position your headphones so that the ear pieces are in the middle, and wrap the wire around the phone. Adjust the loop to get it in the right place – the fabric size is generous, so trim off any excess if you need to.

 

 

 

Step 6

 

Pin the loop in position at one end once you are happy, remove the headphones and then stitch together. Remember to only stitch one end of the loop!

 

 

 

Step 7

 

Measure and attach the velcro pieces – remember that you don’t want to stitch the other end of the loop to the rest of the cover.

 

 

Step 8

 

Next, fold the fabric right sides together, and if you’ve sewn on a loop make sure that the stitches face upwards. Place the phone and lining inside and work out where it will sit in the cover – you may find it helpful to draw lines where you need to stitch, especially for the curved edges. Pin down the long edge, remove the phone and then stitch. Trim the seam allowance to half a centimetre and cut notches out of the curved edge, before turning right side out. Press to remove creases.

 

 

 

Step 9

 

Push the phone and lining into the case, and then remove the phone. If you need to make your own bias binding, do it now! Then attach the binding to the top of the cover. I did this by hand because it was just a bit too small and fiddly to do on my machine, so I tried to keep the stitches as small as I could.

 

 

Ta-dah! I’m so glad that I designed this headphone loop – no more tangles! And I can put my phone in the cover whilst I listen to my choons… What should I listen to first?!