Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sew a Quickie Cloth Camera Strap Cover

I’m going to Blissdom. I want something to identify my new black DSLR as mine because it looks like everyone else’s black DSLR camera. I don’t want someone to accidentally pick up my precious and get weirded out about the crazy amount of dog photos on my camera's memory card. What can I say? Blitzkrieg loves the camera.

I always meant to buy a wider camera strap for my Minolta and regretted it. Its thin webbed camera strap digs into my neck – ow! My Cannon has a wider strap – yay! But it’s webbed material – boo! I suspect more digging into my neck – ow!

Hey! A cloth camera strap cover would solve both of my problems. Let's do it!


I dug into my fabric stash, became one with my inner orange, and sewed a cloth camera strap cover.



Make a Cloth Camera Strap Cover


You will need:

Fabric
Scissors
Ruler
Iron
Straight Pins
Thread
Sewing machine


Make it:

1. Measure the length and width of your current camera strap. Double the width measurement and add one inch for a seam allowance to the length and new width dimensions.

2. Cut two rectangles from your fabric with your scissors according to your measurements.


3. Match the two rectangles back to back (the pretty side of the fabric facing outwards on both pieces.)



4. Hem the top and bottom side of the fabric (the short sides of the rectangle) by folding each side over ¼ of an inch and press with the iron into place. Fold the fabric over by another ¼ of inch and press into place. Pin the hems with the straight pins and stitch into place with the sewing machine.





5. Fold the camera strap in half lengthwise, hems facing out, and pin the raw edge together. Press into place.

6. Sew the Camera strap together lengthwise on the sewing machine.


7. Sew a small seam on the folded side of the camera strap for symmetry. I think it looks and lays better with a seam on each side of the camera strap.

8. Remove the pins and turn the camera strap right side out.

9. Press your seams and iron your fabric so it looks pretty.

10. Thread your camera strap cover onto your camera strap and look cute!

I made my camera strap with two pieces of fabric instead of four because it was difficult to make sure that my side seams were small enough to allow the camera strap go through the finished cover and catch all four layers of fabric. 

I normally do my seams last because I think it looks neater. However since I was working in such a small area, I chose to do them first after my first failed attempt.

If you don’t have enough fabric in your stash because you’re better at decluttering it than I am, you could use a bandanna or scarf as material. I think that would look great too.


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9 comments:

Rachel (Hounds in the Kitchen) said...

Have fun at Blissdom! I wish I were going but it wasn't in the cards this year.

I should make a strap cover for my camera too. I have a huge stash of miscellaneous fabric and this pattern looks wicked easy.

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

Rachel - It IS wicked easy and took under an hour to make. A cloth camera strap cover would make a great Valentine's Day gift too.

DANA said...

That's great! If you have not been by yet, make sure you enter my linky contest! The best of January 2011 will be showered with prizes! I also have some great Valentines giveaways going on right now!

http://www.thesaturdaymorningsblog.com/2011/01/strut-your-stuff-link-up-party.html

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

What a great idea! Thanks for the tutorial! Hope you are having a great week!...hugs...Debbie

Carol said...

It should be no surprise... you have an award waiting at my blog. Have a great week!

Carol
antiquetexan.blogspot.com

Ginger said...

Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!

AllieMakes! said...

GREAT job! I like the orange too!
Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage said...

What a great idea to use a comfy and BOLD fabric for your camera strap. I had to do something similar, a few years back, when I traveled a lot. It seemed every piece of luggage on the conveyor belt was black. I added a bright yellow caution sign tag to mine. It was instantly identifiable. ;)

Thanks for linking to the party. Be sure to enter the giveaway, if you haven't done so yet.

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

Dominick said...

great

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