Pretty Camera Strap Covers

I’ve been wanting a pretty camera strap cover for a long time, so I took a break from my quilt blocks for the Sew Can She Sewalong and did some selfish sewing this morning.

Last April we featured this super little tutorial that I knew would be perfect. It’s very, very easy. Kind of like making a padded purse strap and not having to make the purse.

Click on the photo to the right to visit the actual tutorial, or see it and our other crafty little things to sew in the Sew Can She Archives.

This is some delicious fabric that Mary at Fabric Tree sent me last year. I’ve been saving it for the perfect project. Since one camera strap only requires two 5.5″ x 23″ rectangles of fabric (one outer and one lining) I decided it would be easy to make extra to give as gifts.

Okay, I have to rave about Fabric Tree right now. This has never happened to me before. All four of their fabric pieces were cut so perfectly square that I didn’t have to trim any away before cutting my project.

{I emailed Mary about it and asked her if I could say this, since I didn’t want to put too much pressure on her to always cut perfectly. She wants you to know that they pride themselves on quality service!}

Here’s my lining fabric that came from that big fabric-store-that-must-not-be-named. Okay, I know I could name it but I wanted you to know how I feel about it.

This piece is actually an example of their finest work. I swear, sometimes I want to return fabric to them because so much is unusable due to sloppy cutting.

Okay… rant over. Here are some more fun pictures. I serged all the edges not because I needed to, but because my serger goes faster than my sewing machine.

At quilt market last October we were given nice big samples of double sided fusible fleece from the Warm Company. I decided to try it out. So instead of fusing single sided fusible fleece to the strap and then turning (like the tutorial suggests), I turned the pieces right side out, pressed them, and then inserted my double sided fleece down the middle.

It’s a little bit easier if you tuck the ends inside before you press to fuse the fleece (you might guess why my actual photo of that is the second strap I fused). And be sure to press from the center of the strap toward the ends.

The only other change I made was to topstitch the second side of the strap after sewing the two long edges together. I just think it looks nicer that way. I really wish I had some cute tapes that said ‘SewCanShe’ on them to label the stuff I make. Every time I go shopping for them on etsy I get sensory overload with so many different shops, styles, and sizes that I end up deciding to decide later.

So here are my four adorable straps. I must admit that my initial desire for a pretty camera strap was fueled by vanity, but it turns out that these make the strap wayyyy more comfortable around your neck too. 

Happy sewing and picture taking, everyone!