Protecting the Goods

We recently purchased a new camera, but instead of buying an ugly camera case from the store I decided to make my own. I saved some foam packing material that came with the delivery of the new ink for our printer. This, along with some batting leftover from the ottoman, would be the perfect cushion to protect my beloved new camera.

I layered the foam and batting and then used some leftover jersey knit fabric to sew a pocket for it. I used chalk to outline where the padding would fit into the pocket and then pinned along my marks. Sewing this was very similar to sewing a pillow. Make sure you leave a portion of one side open to stuff in the padding!

Once the padding was taken care of, it was time to turn my attention to the pretty part of this project. I picked a navy blue patterned fabric to use for the visible part of the case. I never used any measurements for this project, I just folded the padding in half to see how large the bag needed to be. I also knew that I wanted to have a top flap on the bag so I'd be able to keep the bag closed.

Once I sewed the bag and finished off the edges, I sewed on a button and used some elastic thread (like I used on the pillow) to keep the bag closed. My next sewing machine will definitely have a button-hole feature!

To finish off the flap and cover where I had sewn the elastic thread on, I added some ribbon. The green ribbon added a pop of color and functions as the perfect cover-up to the elastic.

Here's a view of the inside of the finished camera case. There's between one and a half and two inches of padding to keep the camera protected. I also left space for the rechargeable batteries and the camera cord to live.

The complete project took about two hours. A lot of that time was spent figuring out how big I needed the case to be and how much padding I wanted to use. I'm really happy with the finished product. In fact, I used it as a clutch last night when I didn't need to bring my camera out.

It's certainly pretty enough to carry on its own, but it's also small enough to fit inside my normal purse. Have you made something for yourself lately because all of the store bought versions are just too ugly? Since the jersey fabric, batting, foam and ribbon were all leftover from other projects, this only cost a few dollars for the pretty fabric. Time and money well spent!

Thanks for reading,
Kathleen 

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