Stylish 'Coats' for Ipod and My New IPhone
Being as Apple Computer addicted as I am I'd waited, with bated breath, for Verizon to release it's IPhone. In fact I hadn't renewed my contract for over a year hoping that the IPhone would, finally come to Verizon. It has arrived! I'm not on the phone a lot and I really had to consider whether or not "I deserved to get an IPhone. Thankfully, I had a contract renewal discount so, ultimately, of course(!), I was one of the first to order one. My next consideration was to get a cover to protect it. I spent a good deal of time searching and looking at cover options. Many of the best protective covers were bulky -although I can see where they would, indeed, provide good shock protection. The better cases were quite expensive (designer and full grain leather) with the alternative being a simple protective skin that protects the finish and screen - offering no shock protection at.
My answer to my problem was to get a polycarbonate rear cover that is a the best "poison" green I could find - and to make a protective felt bag myself. I'm not sure that what I have done will provide great shock protection while I am holding the phone - but it will, I hope, give it some insulation if it inadvertently dropped while it's in the bag.
I used a nice thick base of wool roving that was first needle-felted and then wet felted. Next I used an 80/20 fusible batting and a layer of a perfectly matched vintage kimono silk from my favorite silk person (Ah!Kimono). After layering it all together I machine quilted it. I hadn't planned to bead this bag but it seemed to 'want' me to and so I did. I didn't want all over beading but rather a 'wash' of beads from corner to corner. Next decision was the handle - and that had to be done with a Kumihimo disc of course. It came out great - although I should, by rights, do it over. I seriously miscalculated the amount I would need and had to add new lengths as it was on the bobbins so I have one area that, although strong enough, needs a bit of cosmetic help. It could have been worse though - and so I am happily using the bag until I have time to redo the handle. It's long enough that I can put it over my head or under my arm. This length, I have decided, is the most versatile - allowing the bag to be carried in a variety of ways as well as being put in a purse.
The wool roving is from Outback Fibers - which offers my favorite variegated roving colors as well as the best assortment of pre-felts! I made the fused glass button during an outing with the Divas from Fidalgo Island Quilters. I think I am going to simply HAVE to get my kiln fired up this year again and make some more of these buttons!The lovely "poison green" polycarbonate rear cover is made by "Splash". They come in a great array of colors and fit the phone very well. Green seems to be a particularly difficult color. Most of the available greens seem to be either very 'blah' or very 'neon'. Too blue cast green and not enough yellow cast green for my taste. I was very pleased to have found this one.
My Ipod needed a new bag. well, not really needed since the old one is still a near perfect fit for it but I wanted a bag that had a cut out space for the click wheel. Once again my aim was shock protection. I had once dropped an IPod - a short distance but a drop none-the-less. I listen to my Ipod a lot at work when I am doing something mindless like filing and I wanted something that would allow me to 'wear' the bag and have the ability to turn the music on or off easily without having to take the Ipod out of the bag.
This was the result of my first click wheel cut out experiment. I say the first experiment because I am not 100% satisfied so I know there will be more in my future. It might be the party colors. This was a piece of felt I had started some time ago with the intention of giving it to someone. It's out of my usual color box. Maybe that's a good thing. The cut out idea works perfectly though and the long Kumihimo handle allows me to carry it over my head or under my arm with no problem. I was able to turn the music off easily if someone asked a question - or I had to quickly answer the phone.
I'd made the goofy face I used as a faux button long ago and it seemed to match these party colors quite well. I anchored it with thread but then glued it to the felt - wondering if gluing it would even work - it did! Very well! It's a faux button because I used Velcro on this bag (for the first time). Surprisingly, thus far, it has worked very well - although I am not thrilled with the look. If I had black maybe it would have been less glaring that the White I had on hand. I may have to try dying Velcro to match if I use this method in the future for new bags. I want to use the bag for awhile to see if Velcro really is a good alternative to a real button.
The Kumihimo cord came out really well and it matches nicely. Although, as I mentioned, these party colors are out of color box they perfectly match my IPod skin - which I designed from my own artwork through Gelaskin. This bag was also needle felted, then wet felted and then layered with fusible batting and silk before being free motion quited - and , of course, I had to add just a few beads to the mix!
It's been awhile since I made felted bags and it felt really good to get back to it. I have some others in mind - but need to get a few 'ingredients' first !More fun coming this weekend... and I feel a more 'pithy' post noodling about in my head! Hope many of you enjoyed the SUN today! We haven't had such a sunny day in a long time - it was cold - but well worth the rays it brought. We've had weeks of dank, dreary, dark weather so this was an especially appreciate break! Thanks for reading !
Those are great bags-love your felting.
ReplyDeleteI just love those lime green cases - so yummy!
ReplyDeleteI love them! I still have the cool one that you sent me a while back.
ReplyDeleteLOLOL; seems an awful lot of trouble to go to when you can just stuff it in yer bra strap! At least, that's where I put my phone these days. Yours is certainly a more elegant solution.
ReplyDeleteLove the bags, they are gorgeous. Pithy blog post? Oh boy!LOL! I love those. I enjoyed the sunshine, wasn't it wonderful. The bulbs are starting to poke their green little heads out and I am trying to be patient.
ReplyDeletei all so love your bag.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful bags you made!
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