Monday, December 17, 2012

Kindled Spirits

An emotionally-exhausting December has given way to a little spurt of creativity.  Even the simplest projects are renewing for me.  I decided to finally make a Kindle case for the family Kindle (well, the one I let Himself use once in a while ;))  And here's how I did it!

First, I pressed the fabric I wanted to use.  It's been folded into a drawer for who knows how long, so I thought it'd be good to drag it out, instead of using newer stuff. 


Next I gutted a book that was damaged and destined for crafting anyway.  I needed the covers only, so I even took out the spine, because it was far thicker than the Kindle.  The pages are going to another project.


Next, I measured out the exact fabric I needed.  I would have done this first, but it was so wrinkled that I didn't think I'd get an accurate figure.  So out came Ma's old sewing box and this handy doodad:


Next, it was time to start gluing.  I tacked the corners down with hot glue and then the edges, pulling it taut, but not tight, since I wanted to be able to close the thing:




Some scrap booking paper served to cover the seams:


The straps were a bit tricky, and I needed both my hands, so I didn't photograph the steps.  I pretty much eyeballed it.  I wanted 2 ribbons where they wouldn't obscure the keys or screen.  I held them around the kindle itself to trim them to a length where they were *almost* too short to go around it, plus 2 extra inches to fold under the device.  I pinched an inch and glued it to the cover, repeated it for the other side, until I had restraints for the Kindle.  Luckily, I got it right, and I was able to slide the reader in under the ribbons and have them hold.  I wouldn't waggle the holder around a lot, but for regular use, the ribbons work.


I glued some more of this pretty cotton ribbon down the "spine" to cover the little fibers from the book covers. I may replace this with wider ribbon in the future, since I dind't anticipate how much the covers would distort the spine area when folded back. 




And here we are, with a little "bookmark" plume at the top!  Almost done...




There we go!


And it's working pretty well!  If I ever make another, I'll play around with ways to reinforce the spine, since that's the most vulnerable part of the design.  But for an afternoon's whimsy, this ain't so bad :)


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