Home Made Phone Case | Tutorial

I recently bought myself a new phone as my old one died (it went for a swim in a certain piece of bathroom equipment). Once my shiny new phone arrived I spent ages perusing the internet trying to find a case that I liked. After spending far too long trying to find the perfect one, I figured that I should just make one instead! My first attempt at this worked out really well (if a little rough around the edges), so well that my cousin was struck with jealousy at my lovely phone case. So I offered to make her one too! Whilst making hers, I remembered to take photos of the progress so that I could show you how it was done. This is one of those cases with a pull cord so that you can pull the phone out of the case easier.

You will need the following;

One phone (to take measurements from)

A scrap piece of patterned fabric that is big enough to wrap around your phone with some extra for seam allowances

A piece of lining material to give some added protection to your phone (I used felt)

A piece of ribbon for the pull tab

How to make your phone case

1. Cut out two pieces of both the patterned fabric and the lining, your phone needs to fit neatly in these pieces with an edge of around 1-2cm to allow for the seams. The outer patterned fabric needs to be slightly longer than the lining so that you can fold the end over to create a neatly finished top to your case at a later stage. The photo below shows one piece of my lining on top of the outer fabric to show how the outer is slightly bigger.

2. Attach your ribbon to one piece of lining material. You need to make sure that your ribbon is around twice as long as the pieces of fabric (so that it can fold in half at the bottom and still reach the top of the case). Securely sew one end of your ribbon to the lining of the case as shown in the photo below. It needs to be just above halfway up the piece of lining.

3. Lay your piece of lining on top of one of the pieces of outer fabric. Turn down the top edge (the extra length of outer fabric) over the lining and stitch in place. I did two rows of stitching so that it had a nice finish – this will be the top of your case. Repeat this step with the second piece of lining and outer fabric (except this one won’t have a ribbon on).

4. Now for the buttonhole – this is the hole that your ribbon will thread through. Take the piece of outer fabric and lining without the ribbon attached to it. I am lucky enough to have a sewing machine that will sew button holes, however if you haven’t then just sew a thin rectangle so that when you cut the hole, the edges will hold together. This buttonhole needs to be wide enough to fit your ribbon through, and quite near the top of the case. Make a cut through the outer fabric and the lining in the middle of your buttonhole stitching. This is now the front section of the case.

5. Once you’ve done this all you need to do is sew the front section to the back section (the piece with the ribbon on). Make sure you sew them face to face so that you can turn them out and they’ll be the right way round. Take the end of the ribbon and thread it through the buttonhole. You now have a new phone case!

Enjoy! x