Kindle Case

During my perusal of the web, I discovered yet another awesome tutorial by the lovely ladies at Chica and Jo. Their tutorial is to make a hard cover, free standing case for your e-reader. They write the tutorial for the Amazon Kindle, but have instructions on how to fit any model e-reader. Check out their tutorial here.

(For those of you who somehow do not know about the Kindle, it is a bookstore you can hold in your hand! It satisfies all of my instant gratification desires!  When I finish a book in a series and I'm in the mood and totally dying to know what happens in the next one, I don't have to get out of my bed, drive to the store and buy the next book---I simply download it from the Kindle store in less than a minute and continue my reading pleasure!)

The tutorial is amazing and I made a super cute Kindle cover for Christmas--as you can see from my pictures. And I'm here to tell you my experiences. The Chica and Jo tutorial is complete if you are making your case out of non directional fabric and not putting any embroidery on the cover. Oops...I did both. The heart print I chose had the hearts facing one way, and I added the very simple embroidery on the front. In case you are interested, that adorable fabric I used is by Michael Miller and this particular sweetheart print can be found here. So here are a few footnotes you can add to their tutorial if you happen to run into the same bumps that I did.

First, when placing the two long lengths of fabric right sides together, you want to make sure that the print with the pocket sewn onto it is facing so the pocket is at the bottom of the print. That one is easy to figure out. Now the tricky part. When you put the other length of fabric right sides together with it, you want to place it the opposite direction, i.e. "upside down." That way when you turn the "tube" right side out and wrap around your Kindle and have it strapped closed, the front will be facing the correct way....and also when you open it up to have your Kindle available for reading, the print underneath the Kindle will also be upright. That took me a couple rip outs to do right...I kept doing it right but did not understand how it went together at the end and then by the time I did I had to go back and rip out...then it turns out I did it right the first time LOL!

Secondly, I was slightly puzzled when making my first one about where to place the embroidery. I could not figure it out until I had already sewn the bottom seam through the two lengths of fabric and pocket. After doing that part, I was able to determine where the front would be located. I turned the tube pieces so they were right sides out. Then you want to embroider on the back piece (the piece that does not have the pocket sewn to it originally) and you want to embroider on the end closest to the raw edge--the end that has not been sewn to the other length and pocket. You want to place your design starting from 8.5 inches from the raw edge--that is approximately where the top will be.

I hope this helps! I did not realize I would write a post on this when I was making it so I did not take pictures of the process of the directional print and embroidery but I hope I explained it in enough detail. If not, send me a message or leave a comment and I will make sure to clarify. Enjoy your Kindle and enjoy this free standing cover. It rocks!