Crafteroonie: DIY Sewing Machine Cover

Excuse the poor pictures. I'm camera-less for a few weeks and all I have is the camera with no flash on my phone. :(

I got my sewing machine in college. My Mom bought it for me at a garage sale for $3!! It works great for the occasional mending, and I've even been sewing a quilt with it. BUT, it needed a cover to keep the dust off. Enter the tutorial from Sparkle Power that I've had bookmarked for quite a while.

This project is DIY - Design It Yourself. I changed it very slightly, but not much at all. The fabric I had been eyeing at Hobby Lobby for months, but never had a project to use it for - until now! I also picked a coordinating gray to tone down the busy-ness of the print. I bought 1 yard of each, and had plenty leftover.You'll also need some coordinating ribbon.

Supplies: plus thread

Start by measuring your sewing machine from bottom-front to bottom-back, as well as the width from the left side to right side. My machine ended up measuring 28 1/2" x 16 1/2". When you cut your fabric, you have to cut about 1/2" extra on each side to account for seam allowances. So I cut my fabric 29" x17". Then, I cut a 4 1/4" piece off each piece so I could attach it to the other fabric just for a little added detail. If that makes sense. So I ended up with a 12 1/4" x 29" piece and a 4 1/4" x 29" piece of each fabric. Still with me? You could just use two pieces instead - one for the front, and one for the back. But I wanted to jazz it up a little.

Pin the smaller piece of gray to the bigger piece of print with right sides of the fabric together. Sew together. I used 1/4" seam allowances, but you could also use 1/2" if that's your style. Now go press those seams open flat.

Cut four 10" pieces of your ribbon. I put a little Frizz-Ease on the ends to stop them from fraying. On the right sides of one piece of fabric, pin your ribbon about 6" from each corner. You want to put about 1/2" of ribbon sticking out, and most of the ribbon lying in the middle of the fabric. Then put the other piece of fabric on top, right sides together, pin around the edges, leaving about a 4" opening from where you start sewing. I like to put two pins marking where to start and stop sewing so that I don't forget and accidentally sew all the way around the edges. You need this opening to turn your fabric right-side-out.

Trim your corners to reduce bulk when it get turned right-side-out.

Now, turn your fabric right-side-out through the opening. This little tool comes in really handy for getting the corners nice and sharp.

See the difference between just turning right-side-out, and using the tool to get the corners nice and sharp:

Now, take your fabric over to the ironing board because you want to press the outsides flat. Here's another little trick Mom taught me - Lick 'Em! Lick your thumb and first two fingers and rub the two pieces of fabric between your fingers to bring the seam to the outside. This way, your seam will be ironed nice and flat and your layers will be opened as much as possible. I hope that makes sense. It's such an easy and useful trick.

Fold over the edges of the opening to match your seam allowance, and pin shut. Then topstitch all around the edges (about 1/8" from the edge). I used contrasting thread to match the ribbon for this job, just to add a little extra detail.