The Cutest DIY Kindle Cover

Ok fellow sisters...this past week was Little L's first day of kindergarten! So needless to say I have been a little preoccupied with back to school jitters!! Much more so than my little L! She was more than happy to step onto that bus and ride all the way to kindergarten all by herself! My little girl is so brave and growing up too fast! 

And so in case you were like me last week; busy with back to school. Here is a look again at the DIY tutorial for a Kindle Cover that I guest posted in the Holiday Bake, Craft and Sew Along. It is the perfect gift for that special someone in your life that loves to read and owns a kindle (Like my mother in law who keeps dropping hers. This is the perfect gift for her.) If you don't happen to own a kindle this project could easily be adjusted for whatever electronic device you own and I will explain below. 

Materials:

*Fabric (preferably two different patterns that go together)

*Matting (like the kind used in quilting)

*Elastic

*Iron on velcro

*Fabric button

*Basic sewing supplies

*Sewing machine

Getting Started

My cover is made for the Amazon Kindle with dimensions as follows:

Length x Width x Height 

7.5 in x 4.8 in x 0.335 in

I used this formula for measuring and cutting all my material

(L + H +1) x (W + H + 1)

 This formula will help you make your measurements 

whether you have this exact kindle or not. For example, you could use this formula

and make a cover for the nook or even an ipad. 

I found this formula to be extremely helpful.

After calculating and using my handy dandy formula

 (and rounding to the nearest whole number) I cut all my material as follows.

I have numbered all the pieces to make my instructions easier. 

The numbers will be used throughout the tutorial.

*Piece 1: 9 x 12.5 inches (main fabric)

*Piece 2: 9 x 12.5 inches (main fabric)

*Piece 3: 10 x 13.5 inches (matting) 

hint: you want the matting piece to be slightly larger 

than your two main pieces 1 and 2

*Piece 4: 9 x 6 inches (main fabric)

*Piece 5: 7 x 6 inches (contrasting fabric)

*Piece 6: 8 x 6 inches (contrasting fabric)

*Piece 7: 3 x 6 inches (contrasting fabric)

* Piece 8: 3 x 6 inches (contrasting fabric)

Piece 9: 3.5 x 6 inches (matting)

 To make the strap:

You only want to sew up the three edges so you can turn in right side out

with the matting in the middle. Cutting the extra fabric off the corners allows

 for your corners to look neat and square instead of bulky. 

Viola!

A beautiful strap!

 To make the inside pocket piece:

Only hem the tops of pieces 5 and 6. Leave the bottom edge untouched.

Sewing the zigzag stitch will help prevent fraying along the edges. 

Again leave the bottom edges untouched on each piece.

When you are done only the top pieces of 5 and 6 should be hemmed and 

pieces 4, 5, and 6 should have the zigzag stitch along each side edge of fabric. 

Leave the top of piece 4 untouched as well as the

bottom edge of each piece.

 Turn your pieces over so you are looking at the front of them.

You are now going to pin the three pieces together and then sew into place.

This will form two pockets for the inside of the kindle cover. 

Turn the pocket piece over again so you are looking at it from the back and

 fold in the edges with the zigzag stitch only and pin into place. 

You are only going to hem along the two side edges with the zigzag stitches.  

This is what it should look like when all the pocket pieces are sewn together.

Hemming along the zigzag stitch sews all three pieces together.  

Putting it all together:

You want the matting piece to be larger than your two main pieces because it 

makes sewing it all together easier. You can trim away excess later. 

Right now we are going to lay all the pieces on top of each other as 

follows and then sew them all together as one piece. 

Once you have placed the pocket piece on top of piece number 2 

take your number 1 piece (with wrong side facing you) and lay it on top.

 Piece number 1 should look inside out right now. Not to worry once you sew 

it all up you will turn it right side out again.  Pin along the edges described below.

 Leaving the right side edge unpinned.

Starting from the right side bottom edge start to sew a straight stitch 

around the pinned edges. Do not lift your needle out of the fabric 

during this step, until all the way around.

 Finally once you have sewn around the three pinned edges. Turn your work 

right side out. This is what it should look like. With the right side edge still open. 

 For this final step we are going to sew the right edge of the cover while sewing the strap into place and continue around the entire edge of the cover to make for a neat, stylish finish. Fold in the bottom piece of fabric and the matting and pin into place. Place your strap where you want it and pin that into place. Finally fold in the top piece of fabric and pin it all together to seal it all shut. See below.

For this last part. Just be sure to catch every piece of fabric in the "last pinned edge" so

that it all comes together neatly .

Starting at the top right corner (where you have pinned it shut). Sew a straight stitch through all the fabric all the way around the kindle cover. This will make for a neat finish and close up the last edge.

Phew: hang in there it's almost done.. and looking beautiful!

 Sewing the Elastic:

I wanted this not only to be a cover to protect the kindle but also something that could hold the kindle in place while reading it. I might as well be stylish while I'm reading right?

First I cut a piece of cardstock to the measurments of my kindle to use it as a reference. Using elastic that I measured and cut to fit around the corners. I folded in the edges of the elastic and pinned and sewed into place. They ended up working really well, and didn't even interfere with the screen. 

Finishing Touches:

Iron out any wrinkles and iron on your velcro.

TADA!!!

I can't wait to give it to my mother in law for Christmas!

Happy Sewing!!

   we remember...

they remember...

He remembers...














photo sources: googleimages.com

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, 

I wait for God my Savior... Micah 7:7

Check Out the Holiday Craft Along

Happy, happy Friday friends! Three nifty, fellow blog-and-craft-lovin' girls have organized 30 days of sewing, baking and holiday craft ideas for the month of September. The girls are Kelly at According to Kelly, Cindy at Skip to my Lou and Rachel at A Southern Fairytale. They are trying hard to inspire the rest of us to get thinking about Christmas gift giving! I can vouch for the fact that it's never too early to start gathering ideas for those handmade gifts. Make your list...and check it twice!

And...I am pleased as punch to say that we gals at Seven Sisters were kindly asked to guest post for the Holiday Bake, Craft & Sew Along! (Who? Little old us? Oh, yeah we are blogging with the big girls!)

So, without further ado, here's where to go and a preview of what you will find (it's good stuff!)...

Jaime, our decorating super-star sister, is posting over at According to Kelly. Check out her holiday wreath fashioned out of tags. It has a lovely vintage look to it and is like a piece of art for you door. Jaime used paper and embellishments to create a beautiful, one-of-kind wreath.

Mar, our super-motivated-sister-with-a-sewing machine is posting an awesome sewing project over at Skip to my Lou. She shows you step by step how to make a beautiful fabric Kindle cover. It would be a stylish gift for anyone with an e-reader. This makes me want a Kindle just so I can carry it in this beautiful cover!

For some holiday baking inspiration, hop over to A Southern Fairytale to read my (Janel) post. I share a recipe for Christmas cut-out cookies with an anise glaze and a cute idea to package one cookie with a coffee drink. It would make a sweet gift for a teacher or co-worker.

This is our first time guest posting! Hugs to our faithful followers and if anyone is visiting Seven Sisters for the first time...welcome! Take a look around! We are seven friends who follow God and love to spend time together. We get together for "craft nights" at each others homes but really, it is an excuse to talk and eat! Occasionally a craft or two gets completed! Thanks for spending a moment with us..have a great weekend!

Procrastination Anyone?

Procrastination has always been my worst enemy it seems. I come home from a long day at work and look at the load of laundry and think, “Hey look, laundry! Should I do it now? Do I really need to? I just had a long day at work, I deserve to take a break.” I then proceed to do other things and put all thoughts of doing laundry out of my head.


It would seem that procrastination and motivation go hand in hand. I can be really, really motivated on the way home from work. My 30 minute drive home consists of all these awesome things I’m going to do when I get home. I get super excited about doing laundry, picking up around the house, working out, and a miscellaneous list of other things that I have been meaning to get out of the way for a while. My house will be clean as a whistle with everything put neatly in its place and I will look fantastic while I do it. As soon as I get home, I seem to fall into the same routine of procrastination. How can I lose that much motivation in just 30 minutes?


We like to put up the façade that we are proactive and never procrastinate. I like to hide behind a mask of “yes! I am on top of things and ahead of the game!” In reality, I struggle to keep up with simple things like birthday gifts and events where I bring a dish to pass. Everything is left to the last minute. I have become quite the expert in efficiency when time is precious.
After things pile up for a few days, I finally am able to make myself motivated enough to get a ton of things done. It ends up making me feel stressed because I can’t believe that I didn’t do it when I should have.
My husband and I are currently in the process of a complete bathroom gutting and remodel, so our house has been a little crazier than normal (wait not crazy, psychotic!). There is dust everywhere, tools everywhere, supplies everywhere, and it all just makes for a stressful environment.
This is where I take a deep breath and try to maintain some control of my emotions so I don’t explode with raging madness at the mess! As odd as this sounds, I procrastinate, but I like to have things a certain way. My house is not a cesspool, but it sometimes isn’t spotless either. I consider it in “lived in” condition. I clean and keep things in relative good order (even more so when company comes over), but I don’t always get to do the things I should do in a timely manner. I am always waiting until the last possible minute.


Prov 13:4
The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.


Then I think, what if Jesus had procrastinated? What if he put of dying for us, what would have happened? I shudder at the thought. I am thankful for everything He has done and try to remind myself not to procrastinate. It’s time to be diligent for Jesus.

                                                           

a kitchen remodeled ♥ (part one)

This is the story of a kitchen...our kitchen...

heehee...just messin'...ok, ok, so this is what our kitchen looked like when we moved in four and a half years ago...this was actually one of the pics we took when we were scoping the place out :)

what i loved about our house, was just that....the kitchen (ok...and the hardwoods throughout) but really what i fell in love with, was the kitchen...it was huge for one thing, and had sooooo much potential! it had been newly remodeled and everything was clean and in working order....it just needed the jaime touch :)

(never the words the chief wants to hear)

(make a fast forwarding sound in your head)... 

(not out loud cause people will think you're strange)...

four years later...we are here

not much difference, i know, i know...

but grab a box of Stouffer's Whales (i'm addicted to these things man) 

and a cup of tea, then settle in 'cause it's gonna be lengthy....

(this is still before...don't freak out)

and still before...these are actually the cabinets i posted about here

So here's a little bit of a run-down 

of what we've done in the past 6 months (give or take :)

...and here is after!

refinished cabinets 

(we used rustoleum cabinet transformations...

the paint color was white with the finishing glaze over top)

new hardware (Hobby Lobby)

ceramic tile counter top

opened up cabinets

I didn't take a before pic of the corian counter they had put in for baking, rolling out pie crusts, cooking dough and such...but you can sorta see the corner of it here...

...we replaced it with granite...still use this area for baking...

just in case you're curious (or nosy like me) here are some pics taken during the counter top construction...(we had refinished the cabinets about 3 months before)

my father-in-law's tools (he's very specific about which bag they belong in)

(thanks dad-in-law for all your hard work!)

now this...this folks, is "the pile" 

the pile we lived with for 10 days...i'll call it our "remote kitchen" 

since i don't want to admit most of it is my craft stuff that's overtaking the front room (more to come on that in the future)

 (and yes that is a tub full of K-cups)

(and double yes...that is 20 different bottles of snow cone syrup)

(don't ask)

again...i forgot to take a picture of my old sink (dummy)

new white cast iron sink of loveliness 

(faucet/sink from Lowe's)

the island...

the back splash...

...i'm falling asleep in front of the screen...so next week i want to show you some updates on a few things i posted about here and here, and also show you some of the details that have been added to the kitchen since the remodel (you know the cute decortating stuff)...and how i got so many of my ideas from Pinterest! gotta ♥ Pinterest

what? ...you're still not following me yet?! whatcha waitin' fer??

much loves sisters...

oh! almost forgot! ...check out the button on our side bar and come party with us!

this Friday we will be guest posting at 

Skip to my Lou, 

According to Kelly and 

A Southern Fairytale!

Linking to ♥
Today's Creative Blog - Get Your Craft On

Thrifty Decor Chick - Before and After

A Better Attitude

I am starting to accept that my lovely summer is coming to a halt. I am a happy girl in the summer...I sleep until 8:00, spend time with the kiddos and have very few commitments. Basically, my time is my own and it's fun. Back to school for the kids equals back to busy, sleep deprived, always on the run for me. I am determined to make it better this year and I think part of it is my attitude. I really just don't want to do things that I don't want to do!  (Hello! How old am I?) But, some of those things have to be done in order for life to run smoothly (and cleanly ☺). So, in a grand effort to be less tired, more organized and less grumpy about things I don't really enjoy having to do, I have posted the following list on the inside of one of my kitchen cupboards...in hopes for a new attitude!

1. Thank you, Lord, for the alarm that goes off in the early morning because it means I am alive.
 
2. Thank you, Lord, for floors that need to be swept and washed and windows that need cleaning because it means I have a home.

3. Thank you, Lord, for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means I have a family.

4. Thank you, Lord, for the times that I can't find a close parking spot because it means I am capable of walking.

5. Thank you, Lord, for my grocery and heating bills because they mean I am warm and fed.

6. Thank you, Lord, for weariness at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.

It's a start girls! Don't laugh! Feel free to help me add to my thank you list. I can clearly see in my mind the energetic, organized, good attitude girl that I want to be...I just need to get there! Wish me well, school starts back up on Wednesday...the alarm goes off at 5:30 AM...umm...yikes, I mean yipee!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend everyone!