iPhone Sleeve {Mini Tutorial}

A few week’s ago I wanted to make my mom a new iPhone sleeve for her birthday. Last year, upon request from her, I put together this pathetic looking sleeve. Last month, when she pulled that pathetic looking sleeve out of her purse I desperately wanted her to put it back in her purse… actually, I wanted to throw it directly in the trash. Not only was it super dirty (*note to self never make a sleeve out of white fabric), it was to small for the phone, and poorly constructed. That’s when I knew that I needed to make a new iPhone sleeve for her. Before I just slapped one together, I decided to search the internet to see if there were any tutorials that may be able to guide me a bit better than my first attempt. Sure enough, I stumbled upon Erin’s Blog (Dog Under My Desk), who just so happens to be a fellow Yorkie lover. She has an awesome downloadable PDF that really lays everything out in detail! However, I did a few steps/techniques differently.

The basic supplies you will need are (2) pieces of fabric 10-3/4″ x 4″, Fusible interfacing (cut smaller than fabric), scrap of batting (I didn’t have any of this–so I omitted), coordinating smaller piece of fabric (2-1/2″ tall x 2″), split ring (didn’t have this on hand, so I removed it off of the beer bottle opener), thread, chalk line, pins, scissors, ruler, iron, etc… *I happened to have all the supplies on hand, so this project cost me very little; however, if I was to add it all up I would probably say it would cost the average person around $5 (rough estimate).

This was the first time I sewed with fusible interfacing. I read the directions, I used the damp cloth, and it didn’t adhere. That’s when I decided to take a risk and iron it right on… that seemed to do the trick; however, I had to be a bit careful that it wouldn’t come undone. Anyone have tricks for using this finicky material? I also only had lightweight… and didn’t understand why Erin had 3 pieces pictured (now after looking at her PDF and reading the directions AGAIN, I realize she was also using batting).

Like I wrote above, we didn’t have a key ring on hand, so I just found one that wouldn’t be (that much) missed to use for this project. I happened to have a piece of coordinating pink fabric to pair with the sleeve.

I folded thie 2.5 x 2″ piece in fourths and stitched around the edge.

Once the edges were sewn, I folded this in half (placing the key ring in the middle), and pinned it to the fabric. I pinned the right sides of the fabric together, and placed the key ring facing down.

I carefully sewed around the edges (leaving a 3 inch space on one side).

This is what it looked like when it was sewed around the edges (you’ll noticed I left a few inch gap in the middle to be able to flip the right sides of the fabric out).

Turn it rightside out. Fold the sleeve in half, pin, and sew around the edge (leaving an opening for iPhone to slide in). After I did a basic straight-stitch around the edge I added the decorative stitch to each side.

Here is a view of the decorative stitch I used.

Here is a side view to show it’s thickness.

Headphones are plugged in and music is on!

Here is an aerial view of the iPhone sleeve.

This is what the inside of it looks like!

I realize that there are some imperfections to this sleeve; however, it’s 100 times better than my first attempt. Plus, no one’s perfect–that’s what makes us all unique!

Don’t be intimidated to try this beginners sewing project out.

Share and Enjoy

Comments

Elizabeth says:

May 24, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Very cute! Thanks so much for linking up to Made With Love! I'm featuring this on my Facebook page today! http://www.facebook.com/SewChatty

Ambrosia says:

May 24, 2011 at 4:37 pm

LOVE the fabric you chose! Thanks for sharing – I need to make one for my poor abused iphone!

MJ @ MD School Mrs says:

May 24, 2011 at 5:51 pm

Great great, so great! Can't wait to make one for myself Thanks so much for sharing…

MJ @ MD School Mrs.

Snuggly Monkey mama says:

May 24, 2011 at 6:54 pm

Great tutorial! My mom is in desperate need of an iPhone sleeve, so this comes in really handy. Love your site!!

Chris says:

May 24, 2011 at 11:07 pm

Cute! The fabric is nice! Thanks for sharing at Us and Them! Chris

Lori@KitchenFunk says:

May 25, 2011 at 3:19 am

Katie, this is great, I'm definitely going to give this a try. I don't have an iphone myself but lots of people I love do. Fun project, simple enough to make even ME feel talented and fancy enough to look soooo professional! Thank you!

{nifty thrifty things} says:

May 25, 2011 at 8:05 am

This turned out so cute!! Love it!
xoxo,
Vanessa @ {nifty thrifty things}

Ashley says:

May 26, 2011 at 5:20 pm

this is so cute! I love the fabric!!!!!!

Erin Erickson says:

June 2, 2011 at 12:41 am

Hi! I'm so glad you tried my tutorial and I love your finished product! The decorative stitches are a nice touch! I updated the PDF to make the batting & interfacing more clear. As for your interfacing issue, I've found that fusible interfacing is not all alike. Some fuse really well and others don't fuse at all, or wrinkle terribly. SF101 is my favorite. Fusible Featherweight is the one I have the most problems with. I wrote all about it on my blog: http://www.erinerickson.com/2011/04/fusible-interfacing/ I hope that helps!!

Abby says:

June 10, 2011 at 10:06 pm

I can't wait to it try it out!! I have been wanting to make something for my iTouch. I will just modify it a bit thanks so much!! I hope mine turns out as well as yours did!! Thanks!
(found you on Craftgaker

Connie @ Salvage Savvy says:

August 27, 2011 at 2:32 pm

This is so cute! I am featuring it on Salvage Savvy's "My Followers Rock" post today!!

Jenn says:

February 11, 2012 at 8:03 pm

love this! going to try it out this weekend. I don’t have much experience with fusible interfacing, but I find that if the fabric is stretchy it doesn’t like to stick!

- Mrs. Woodsy aka Katie says:
  
  February 13, 2012 at 10:37 am
  
  I’m in the same boat as you… not much experience with fusible interfacing. Good luck and let me know how it turns out!