You know I posted about my new Kindle before – well, it’s fast becoming one of my new favourite things to have around. Especially now it’s loaded with all my must read books and social media channels. Plus the super big shiny screen makes me happy. But to protect this shiny screen from getting damaged by all the things that inhabit my bag when I’m out, like keys and pens and rogue hair clips and from naughty little puppy paws at home I figured I needed a case.
Unfortunately all the ones I liked were either super expensive or in America (meaning they would take ages to arrive) so I decided to give making one a go. I’m pretty happy with the result though. Especially as it only took me about half an hour to do.
What you’ll need;
- 2 pieces of that are felt bigger than your tablet. I bought 2 of these hand made wool felt 9″ x 12″ sheets. I chose felt as it’s soft and it’s thick so I wouldn’t need to add a lining.
- Contrasting cotton – I went with yellow because what’s better than grey and yellow?
- Leather tab fastener.
- Thinner felt/soft material for the pocket if you’re adding one. (You’ll want it thin so it doesn’t add loads of bulk)
If you’re adding a pocket to your case you’ll need to start here. If not – head to the next lot of instructions.
- Grab one of the pieces of thick felt. I cut an opening about 5cms from the top of the felt – using a ruler to make sure it was straight. I used my rotary cutter as it was to hand, but you could use a craft knife. The opening here is about 10cms long.
- I sewed around the opening in my contrasting thread, the distance of the sewing machine foot away. You don’t need to do this, but I thought it made it more of a feature.
- Next, take the square of material you’re using for the pocket and pin it to the back of the piece of felt, covering the opening you just made – line it up evenly. Sew around the edge of this to make the pocket.
- To make the body of the case, I lined up my tablet on one of the pieces of felt. I used the one I’d already sewn the pocket on to (just so I knew the pocket was central) and drew around it with a marker pen (or something that shows up on your felt) I used a Sharpie so it stood out on the dark felt. I also put the ruler about 1/2 a cm away from the edge of the Kindle to make sure it’ll still fit if I add a case one of those cases that is also a stand.
- Then I grabbed my the back piece of felt and pinned in place.
- I sewed on the line all the way round 3 edges of the felt with the seams on the outside. I purposely didn’t turn it inside out so the seams are on the outside. If you had thinner felt I guess you could. This was far too thick for that and I like the stitching on show.
- Once sewn, I centred the leather tab in the middle of the case. I sewed the press-stud side of it on to the front, just above the pocket.
- And then attached the other tab by sewing it to the back of the case. I like my little xxx sewing here.
- Lastly, I trimmed the excess felt from around the edges of the stitching with some scissors to tidy it up.
And there you have it, a simple 30 minute tablet case with a little pocket for your headphones and cables and the likes. I love contrast of the grey felt and the leather together and I think the yellow makes it a little bit special, but not too girlie that Jim won’t want to be seen with it too. Only problem is I showed it to my mum and she wants one now too!
What do you think?
This is lovely. I am wondering if I should make one for my kindle when everything is unpacked. Felt is a genius idea for things like this.
Thank you. Felt is amazing – especially this tailors felt. it's so spongy.
That looks so good, love the choice of the yellow against the grey.
Yellow and grey are my favourite. The quilt I'm making is testimony to this.
I love this! I'm a sucker for anything that's grey and your instructions are so easy to follow, I might even give it a try myself.
Do it – it's super easy.
This looks amazing. I made my other half a case for his e-reader recently, but to be honest I'm thinking I may make him another as I'm not too happy with it. Where did you get the felt from? (I'm from Sheffield)
I got it online as John lewis told me that there was no where in Sheffield to buy felt. If I was less lazy I might have ventured to the haberdashery in Hillsborough, but this was ordered on a sunday and arrived before I'd have been able to go anyway – I googled thick felt and bought it from the first shop I can across. Some research should probably have been done but wasn't 🙂
Ah, cool thanks. I don't know if you've been that way but there are some fabric stores down London Road which sell some fantastic sari fabrics and trimmings if you're ever looking for that sort of thing. Quite close to bragazzi's, which is well worth a trip.
I know those stores well (I live just off Abbeydale Rd). But I'd always say Amici and Bici over Bragazzi's – I think it's much friendlier!