I am officially rubbish at mobile phones. I can’t do text speak, I can’t work out how to send a photo and until recently, I was constantly missing calls while I scrabbled round in the bottom of my bag trying to find my phone amongst the jungle of tissues, receipts and baby snacks. So, I decided to take matters in hand and add a mobile phone pocket to the next bag I made. There are a number of different ways to do this, but I think this is the simplest method.
These instructions are for a pocket that will fit a mobile phone up to 2” 1/8 / 55mm wide, but could easily be adapted if your phone is a different size.
You will need to make your pocket and attach it to one of the bag lining pieces before constructing your bag
Step 1: Cut out an oblong of fabric 5 3/4 “/48mm tall and 4 1/2 “/115mm wide to coordinate or contrast with your bag lining.
Step 2: Turn under and press 1/4”/6mm on all 4 sides of the oblong. To make this super quick, use
this brilliant tip from Florence of Flossie Teacakes and use a piece of card with lines drawn at 1/4"/6mm intervals as a pressing guide.
Step 3: Turn under and press a further ¼”/6mm on one of the narrower edges of the oblong and top stitch or zigzag the turning in place. This is now the top edge of your pocket.
Step 4: Measure and mark a line ¾”/20mm in from each long edge.
Step 5: Fold and press along these lines so that the long edges are now folded under at the back of the pocket.
Step 6: Carefully stitch a line of topstitching about 1/8”/3mm from the folded edges you have just made along each long side.
You have now created a permanent “crease” in the pocket as shown in the picture below.
Step 7: Now for the fiddly bit: Work out the desired position of your pocket on one of your bag lining pieces. Keeping the long creased edges of your pocket folded under, place the pocket on your lining piece in the desired position. Mark the position of the long creased edges by placing a pin at the top and bottom – as per the picture.
It’s important to be as careful and accurate as possible here, or you may end up with a wonky pocket – and no one wants that!
Step 7, Part 2: Now, carefully unfold the creased edges of the pocket, keeping the pin markers in place. Align the long edges of the unfolded pocket with the pin markers and pin in place. Repeat on the other side. You should now have something that looks like this:
Step 8: Carefully stitch the long sides of the pocket in place about 2/8”/6mm from the edges.
Step 9: Nearly there! Now, to finish the bottom of the pocket, line up the creased edges so that they sit exactly on top of the long edges you have just stitched to the lining. Pin in place. You will need to create a sort of pleat with the sides of the pocket folding inside the pocket itself.
Step 10: Carefully stitch the bottom of the pocket in place – about 2/8”/6mm from the edge.
Now slip your phone into the pocket and marvel at how cosy it looks all snuggled up in its own little handy home!
Fly my pretties, fly...
Oh, how I wish I could do a 'London look' like that - I just end up appearing vaguely lobotomised!
The third of my craft profile series features decoupage - check it out on the UK Handmade blog. (forgot to mention it earlier, so the moment may have passed slightly!)
A new batch of upholstery fabric scraps came my way recently, so this week I'm working on a set of mini chain purses with the pieces that immediately caught my eye. I like working on this style - there's a fair bit of hand tacking to be done with the bias binding so I can cosy up on the sofa with the TV and still be industrious!
Autumn feels well and truly underway now - perfect for crocheting something snuggly. Here's a sneaky peak of a secret project I'm working on... ssssh, it's a gift, so don't tell!
Step 2: Turn under and press 1/4”/6mm on all 4 sides of the oblong. To make this super quick, use this brilliant tip from Florence of Flossie Teacakes and use a piece of card with lines drawn at 1/4"/6mm intervals as a pressing guide.
Step 3: Turn under and press a further ¼”/6mm on one of the narrower edges of the oblong and top stitch or zigzag the turning in place. This is now the top edge of your pocket.
Step 4: Measure and mark a line ¾”/20mm in from each long edge.
Step 5: Fold and press along these lines so that the long edges are now folded under at the back of the pocket.
You have now created a permanent “crease” in the pocket as shown in the picture below.
Step 7: Now for the fiddly bit: Work out the desired position of your pocket on one of your bag lining pieces. Keeping the long creased edges of your pocket folded under, place the pocket on your lining piece in the desired position. Mark the position of the long creased edges by placing a pin at the top and bottom – as per the picture.
Step 9: Nearly there! Now, to finish the bottom of the pocket, line up the creased edges so that they sit exactly on top of the long edges you have just stitched to the lining. Pin in place. You will need to create a sort of pleat with the sides of the pocket folding inside the pocket itself.
Now slip your phone into the pocket and marvel at how cosy it looks all snuggled up in its own little handy home!
I'm so excited that I've had to take emergency measures and stick my credit card in a bowl of water in the freezer!
..and here are some action shots of the workshop in progress.
I'm more than a little relieved to say that I think it went really well. Granted, we did run over by about 2 hours (!) but everyone left with a finished bag and even better, they all said that they'd learnt something. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience - it was great to spend the day with such a lovely group of ladies, the workshop space at Darn it and Stitch has a great atmosphere, and it was really fabulous to see everyone's bags coming together.
The second of my craft profile series was published on the UKhandmade blog yesterday. This time it's about needle felting.
For this version, I made my own bias tape. It's the first time I've made bias tape using a bias tape maker - a nifty little tool that I definitely recommend. Prudent Baby has a great tutorial that's worth a read.
I had a break from knitting over the summer so it took longer than usual to finish this little cardigan, but it's a great pattern (Sirdar 1802) and the different textures were fun to knit. This is already a bit snug so the poor child has been wearing it a LOT to get that cost-per-wear figure down! Hopefully the other babies at playgroup haven't noticed!
The autumn issue of the UK Handmade online magazine came out today and it almost makes up for the summer being over!
More details to follow soon - I'll keep you posted!
