Hello Beautifully Dressed BFF

I would like to take a minute to introduce you to my new BFF Samantha, Sam for short.

“Hello Sam,” says Cordelia.

“Hello Cordelia,” says Sam.

For the last several months Cordelia and I have been using this camera to record our adventures.

 Even though this camera has some good qualities, such as it’s green and fits in my pocket, it also had a few undesirable qualities such as the flash has gone, and its battery life is akin to the attention span of a 3rd grader. So it was time for us to move on.

As luck would have it, the all magical and mighty Santa brought us Sam for Christmas! We were thrilled! THANK YOU Santa!

Well Sam was feeling a bit exposed so I decided to make her a nifty little designer camera strap. Plus now I’ll be able to easily distinguish Sam from The Papa Hart’s camera which happens to be a slightly more mature yet identical model.

Actually, I didn’t make a whole new camera strap, I just made a cozy to slide on the existing strap. It was a little easier than trying to track down all the hardware to make a strap from scratch, and I figure that this way when Sam wants a new outfit it’ll be easier to switch out.

Here are the directions to make your own designer camera strap cozy if you wish:

First you will need to take a few measurements.

Measure the width of the strap. Sam’s was 1.5” wide. Double this measurement so you can wrap the fabric all the way around the strap and add 1” for seam allowances and a little extra space to slide on. So I ended up with a measurement of 4”.

Now measure the distance from leather end to leather end. Sam’s was 23.5”. Add 1” for seam allowance so we ended up needing 24.5”

Now you are ready to cut a fabric strip to these measurements. Only I divided the length in half and cut two strips cause A. I only had ¼” yd of the fabric and if I cut it on the cross grain the birds would not have looked as nice, and B. So I could flip the direction of the birds so half of them would not end up standing on their heads. You don’t want your birds standing on their heads—no telling what shenanigans they’ll come up with when all that blood rushes to their brains.

If you have two strips, place right sides together and sew the short ends with a ½” Seam allowance—this will become the center back seam. Press the seam open.

 

Cut a length of mid-weight, fusible interfacing the same size as the strap. Iron this onto the wrong side of the fabric.

Fold the fabric in half hotdog style with right sides together. 

 Sew the seam using a 3/8" Seam Allowance.

Press the seam open.

Attach a large safety pin to one side and use the safety pin to turn the tube right side out.

Press the tube so the seam is down the center of the back.

Attach the safety pin to the end of the camera strap and use it to help you slide the cozy over the strap.

Once you have the cozy in place, fold the ends in ½” to finish them—the folded edge should but up right next to the leather end bit of the existing strap.

Topstitch through all the layers. Repeat for the other side.

Voila!

You now have a beautiful new outfit for your camera.

Go make one, your camera will be happier and now you won’t have to worry about accidentally taking a series of incriminating pictures with someone else’s camera!

Happy Dress Up

~Melisa & Cordelia