The University of Idaho Argonaut

Felt pretty much rocks my face off. It’s cheap, it comes in more colors than the rainbow and the craft possibilities are practically endless. Felt is great for making patches and pins to add a little flair to your favorite clothing or accessories, as well as making pouches and cases for smaller electronic items – like iPods and cameras. With a little bit of the magic material and an embroidery stitch called the “blanket stitch,” you’ll find you can make just about anything.

What you'll need

-Felt: any color, just get enough to get the job done
-A needle
-Embroidery floss: also in any color
-Scissors: and/or a rotary cutter if you’re really hardcore crafty
-A ruler
-A marker
-Buttons
-An iPod, camera or whatever else you plan on making a case for. I’ll be using an 80 GB iPod Video for this tutorial. 

Step 1: Making the pattern

Start off by tracing the iPod by placing it on the felt. Don’t worry about the marker messing up the felt, as this will be the inside of the case. Once the basic outline is down, use the ruler and trace the lines outside the first sloppy outline. That way it’s not only even, but the lines will be straight. The easiest way to do this is to place the iPod on the corner of the sheet of felt, so you only have to worry about making one side even since the felt is pre-cut. If the outline seems larger than the iPod, that’s a good thing. The iPod will slide easily into the pouch.

Step 2: Cutting out the pieces

Two rectangles of felt will be cut out — one for the front of the case and one for the back. Once the front is cut out — the piece with the original outline — trace the outline onto the second piece of felt. When you cut it out, leave an extra inch of felt above the outline. This will make the back piece longer, which is good because you’ll need the extra felt for the flap to keep the case closed.

Step 3: Stitching it together

The blanket stitch is a pretty easy stitch, but it may be tricky to conquer at first.

Start by threading the needle with the embroidery floss and tie a knot at the end. Place the wrong sides of the felt — the sides with the marker on it — together and draw the needle and thread through one piece of felt about 1/4 inch from the edge. A good place to start is where the top corners of the felt touch, but not on the flap. You should have the knot inside the pieces of felt and the needle and thread coming out one side.

Next, with the side of felt with the floss coming out facing you, stick the needle back through both pieces of felt about 1/4 inch to the right of the first hole. Don’t pull the floss all the way through. Leave a small loop for the next step.

Now the needle and floss should be coming out the backside of the felt. Take the needle and thread it back through the loop that is left loose, and pull everything until the floss is snug against the edge of the felt.

Continue by threading the needle through the felt 1/4 inch to the right of the stitch that was just made, once again leaving a loop and drawing the needle back through the loop from the opposite side. Continue doing this around the edge of the felt, creating a secure stitch and a sort of floss border around the case. For corners, make sure to make a diagonal stitch into the previous vertical stitch, creating a little arrow in the corner. When you make the next vertical stitch, you will want it to touch the diagonal stitch from the corner.

Continue the blanket stitch around the double layers of the case and up around the single layer of the flap. When you get back to where you started, finish the last stitch, leaving even space between the first and last stitch. Place the needle under the vertical part of the beginning stitch. Then proceed to stick the needle through the felt so that it comes out the edge between the two pieces. Pull the floss out and stick the needle back through the edge bar of the last stitch and tie a little knot. Insert the needle back between the two pieces of felt and up through the middle. Cut off the excess.

Step 4: Adding some closure

The case should now be stitched all the way around. Sew a button onto the front piece (the piece without the flap), and cut a small slit onto the part of the flap that meets the button when closed. The case should now stay closed and keep the iPod secure. Don’t cut the slit too big. Make it just big enough for the button to get through.

Step 5: Finishing touches

The basic case is done, but embellishments can be added for more personality. Sew on some sequins, buttons or even some extra pieces of felt to add a little character to the case. Maybe even use the blanket stitch or a basic straight stitch (kind of like hash-marks) to piece felt together to make characters to add onto the case. Look up some other embroidery stitches online to stitch some spunk onto the case.

If it’s too hard to sew on any additions once the case is sewn together, an alternative is to attach them to the felt before stitching the front and back pieces together.

That’s it. You now have a personalized and handmade iPod case that was incredibly cheap and easy to make. You can use this technique for making a case or pouch for just about anything, just modifying it for size. If you’re worried that the felt is too thin or not enough cushion for the iPod, try using two pieces of felt for the front and back pieces to thicken it up.