I like to know how to do a lot of different things, even if I don't know how to do all of them very well. When I saw a Singer sewing machine at Goodwill for twenty dollars, I thought it might be a good time to finally learn how to sew.
After ordering the instructions for my new machine, reading some tutorials online, and stiching random lines through an old T-shirt, I looked for a first project.
This project was, as you can probably guess, a simple case for my new digital camera to protect it from scratches and dust. I didn't want something like a big leather case, despite it offering substantial protection. I wanted a case you could put over the camera and still fit it in your pocket, but protect its LCD from my keys and keep pocket lint out of the lens.
Since I had the old T-shirt laying around, I decided to make the cover from it. I laid the camera on the materal and drew lines around the outline of the camera, eyeballing how much material I would need. The material T-shirts are made out of is called 'jersey' and is very stretchy. I decided that it would be fine if the material stretched a little around the camera. It would help keep it in place.
I sewed two lines using the straight stitch setting on my machine and then cut the material out of the shirt. Cutting after sewing kept the material straight. The lines went a little further than the length of the camera, so that I'd have enough material to hem the end.
I then folded the unfinished end down and attempted to make a hem. This worked, but it left unfinished edges. It was good enough as a starting point, and I could put a draw string in if I so desired.
After a week or so, I decided to give it another go. I started similarly by taking a fold of cloth from the T-shirt. I measured out the width of a normal Bic pen to account for the size of the camera. I cut the cloth before sewing it, forgetting the benefits of not doing so.
This time, however, I stitched all the way to the opening, figureing that it would somehow make it easier to hem the end.
Unfortunately this completely confounded me. I couldn't think of any way to hem the end, having closed the edges.
I decided to move on...
The next attempt was the same as the last, but I only stitched part way up the tube. I then tried to hem around the unfinished end, connecting everything.
It was a mess, but it had no unfinished ends, and it looked somewhat better than the first try. I decided it was done.
I still had the second attempt, and decided I'd try to at least tack a hem and maybe use it to hold dice or cards.
I started sewing a hem, and was frustrated by the fact that I coudln't get around the "edges" of the tube. I decided to see how far I could go when I realized I could just "roll" the tube and do a single continous stitch. Suddenly everything made sense.
My camera case was nothing but a glorified pant leg! I hemmed the end in a similar fashion as hemming a sleve. The case was of such a small diameter that I had to carefully roll it over the presser foot of the machine. The stretchiness of the jersey fabric made this easier.
The finished product is excellent.