DIY Owl Kindle Cover Tutorial

I have been meaning to make a Kindle cover for my sister-in-law for months now. But it has taken me a long time to figure out the measurements for it. I am excited to say, I DID IT!! It is finished! and I am very pleased with how it turned out!!

I searched and searched the internet, Pinterest, blogspot, blogger... everywhere to find a good tutorial for a Kindle cover. But NONE could be found. I think everyone wanted to save their secrets to make money selling their covers...  So- after all the laboring, (and failures of covers too small) I thought I would share with the world the steps of how I did it, so maybe someone out there wouldn't have to suffer as much as I did trying to find measurements!! I wanted a cover that had some padding, but also a cardboard inside. Also I wanted a velcro side closure, and a bottom pocket, instead of the side pockets I saw on many covers. So I kind of gathered little helpful hints from various sources and compiled them.  I'm kinda a big believer in "a picture is worth a thousand words" so this post has way too many pictures, but hopefully the instructions are clear enough to follow.
If you try this, or read this, or find this helpful, or find this confusing... Your comments are welcomed! Please, let me know how I can improve this post! I am still learning this whole blog/tutorial thing!


Materials:
-two different prints of fabric (that coordinate)
-thread
-velcro (i bought velcro sticky squares from a craft store)
-padding of some sort (i used a piece of scrap fabric, that was a microfleece, so mine is a bit smaller than that)
-cardboard (I suggest using the inside of a three ring binder, it is stronger and thinner than regular cardboard, without the bubbles of air in it.)
- and of course a sewing machine and some determination!

Getting started:
You will need to cut out the following pieces:

A: 8 1/2 inches x 11 1/2 inches   (cut 2 of main fabric, 1 of "padding" fabric)

B: 8 inches x 5 inches (cut 1 of complimentary fabric)

C: 8 inches x 1 1/2 inches (cut 1 of complimentary fabric)

D: 3 inches x 3 inches  (cut 4 of complimentary fabric)

E: 7 5/8 inches x 5 inches (cut 2 of cardboard)



Strap and Velcro Construction:
1. Fold Piece C in half to find the middle, place rough velcro square on the fabric (about 1/4 inch from the fold)
2. open up the fabric and sew around the edge of velcro.

3. Fold in half, right sides together and sew top and bottom edges with a 1/8th inch seam allowance.

4. Turn strap right side out. (I use a pin to pull the corners out as far as I can)
5. Finish edges by sewing a stay stitch around edges to make strap lay flat. Your strap should now look something like this:

6. Sew soft Velcro square to outside piece A, 2 inches from right side, in the middle.

Pocket construction:
1. Fold piece B in half (hamburger style), right sides together. With fold on top, sew down the right side.

2. Turn fabric. With right sides out and fold on top, sew a topstitch/staystitch along the fold and right side seam.

3. Match bottom and left raw edges of piece B to bottom left corner raw edges of inside piece A(NOT the A piece that has the velcro on it)  (right sides both up)

4. Stitch-in-the-ditch (sew following topstiching line) on the RIGHT SIDE of the pocket only.


Corners Construction:
1. Fold two D pieces in half diagonally, right sides together. Sew ONE raw edge on each with 1/4 inch seam allowance.  

2. Turn right sides out. (again, I used a pin to pull out the corner/point as far as I can.)

3. Match top and bottom raw edges to piece A. Measure so that seamed edges of D pieces are 6 inches from right side of piece A. Sew (1/8 inch seam allowance) down left sides of D pieces.

4. Fold remaining two D pieces in half diagonally WRONG sides together.
5. Match raw edges/corners to right two corners of piece A. Pin.

Putting it all together:
-Layer the pieces in the following order bottom first:

1. Inside piece A (with pocket and corners attached) RIGHT SIDE UP

2. Strap, piece C (with velcro side down and to the left) raw edge should stick out of the right side of piece A about 1 inch, center up and down.

3. Outside piece A (with velcro piece attached and on the left side) RIGHT SIDE DOWN
4. Place lining on top. (mine does not match in size because i used a scrap piece.)

- Pin, matching edges (again, my padding piece is smaller because it is a scrap) (except for strap piece, mine is a little crooked in the above pic)
- Starting at the top in the center, moving to the right, sew around the outside with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. (I match the edge of the fabric with the edge of my pressure foot).

-Stop when you get to the top left corner, so you leave a hole on the top left half of the cover.
- Clip the corners of your seam allowance, so it will lay flat better.
- Turn the cover, so right sides are out!

You are so close!! Just a few more things!

Finishing Touches:
1. I rounded the outside corners of the cardboard, just to make them fit a little better.

2. Insert the cardboard pieces in through the hole on the top left of the cover.
Place them in-between the outside piece A and the padding piece.

3. This next step is kind of tricky, turn in the top open edge, and hand sew closed. I pinned it so it laid flat, then hand sewed it.

4. Finally, spread the two piece of cardboard as far to the outside edges as possible. Sew (stitch in the ditch) down the left edge of the two center corner pieces, making a line down the center of the entire cover. This will help keep the cardboard and lining/padding pieces in place.

5. If you would like, you can embellish with a button on the strap.


ENJOY!!!