Round Ear Bud Holders with Key Ring

I made these fun little, padded, round ear bud cases a few days ago. They whip up quick and easy and are so handy. They would make terrific gifts.

All it takes to create these are 2 fashion fabric circles, 2 fleece circles, and 2 circles out of a lining fabric. (These are made with circles 4 1/2" in diameter.) And a zipper. I used 7" zippers. Excess will be trimmed away. And a key ring or giant lobster claw. And a small rectangle of fashion fabric for tab. I used key rings.

Of course, the lining fabric can be made from a fashion fabric. I think the term fashion fabric is used in the industry more to designate your outer fabric while lining fabric tends to be a cheaper, solid fabric.

So 2 circles each of fleece, outer fabric, and lining fabric. Cut one of the circles in half for outer, fleece, and lining fabrics.

You now have 1 4 1/2" circle of fashion fabric and 2 semi-circles of fashion fabric, 1 4 1/2" circle of fleece and 2 semi-circles of fleece, 1 4 1/2" circle of lining fabric and 2 semi-circles of lining fabric.

Sandwich the fleece halves between the outer fabric and lining halves with wrong sides against the fleece. Place the sandwich face down on a zipper. The right side of the fashion fabric will be against the zipper and the straight edge of the fabric will match the straight edge of the zipper.

Sew the 3 layers along zipper edge then press back away from the zipper teeth and topstitch. Then line up the other set of halves on the other side of the zipper and do the same thing. Just make sure that the right side of the outer fashion fabric is facing the zipper when sewing it to zipper and facing up after pressing it away from the zipper teeth and topstitching.

Now sandwich whole circles with fashion fabric right side facing down, fleece circle, then lining fabric circle right side facing up. Place on right side of halves attached to zipper, lining up edges as neatly as possible.

Right sides of fashion fabric will be touching and right sides of lining fabric will be facing out on both sides.

Be sure that zipper is unzipped. Zipper head should be in center of circles or you won't be able to turn it right side out after sewing together. Place tab along zipper at the opened end. You can tack this down to keep it in place. Raw edges of folded tab will be lined up with raw edges of circle. Folded end of tab will be inside, between the two right sides of the fashion fabric.

Oh, to make the tab, cut a rectangle about 2"x3", fold into 3 lengthwise, sew down each side about 1/4" from edges. Fold in half with side with raw edge inside.

Sew around circle with 1/2" seam allowance. If your edges are super even you can do 1/4" seam allowance but with so many layers it's simpler to use the 1/2" seam allowance to better catch all those circle edges.

Trim zipper ends flush with edge of sewn circles then use pinking shears to trim around circle edges. If you don't have pinking shears then clip around. Turn right side out through open zipper. Topstitch around outside edge without going across the zipper. This will encase the raw edges. Voila! A handy little carrying case for ear buds or spare cash or a key or a jump drive or all sorts of things.

Instead of using a key ring you could use a clip or a giant lobster claw to attach to a ring on your purse or backpack, etc. Or you could do the key ring.

The first one I did was only 2 1/2" in diameter and that was pretty small, too small for earbuds, but big enough for a spare key or maybe a pair of earrings, etc. I think 3 1/2" or 4" circles would work well also. I think the next set will be cut at 4" diameter for the circles.

A fun project and a very quick sew up. A great stash buster. A great gift idea.

A Blanket That Is a Pillow

Last month I made a fleece blanket that folds into a pocket to form a pillow. It was to be a birthday gift for a three year old. It was fairly straightforward, except that when I moved to Texas I removed the spool cap from the sewing machine that I brought with (to keep it safe) and I could not find it when it came time to sew.

I still don't know what happened to the spool cap. The spool of thread that I took off when I removed the spool cap was right there but no cap even though I took them off at the same time.

That was the large spool cap, which is the only one I ever use. The medium spool cap does not normally work on normal sized thread spools but it was what I had so I used it. What a nightmare! The thread kept catching on the little cut in the top of the spool and breaking. I guess I am lucky that the needle did not break.

So, as a workaround I cut a circle slightly larger than the medium spool cap out of poster board. That worked. It is not a permanent solution, of course. I did find one online and ordered it and it arrived and all is good in the world of my sewing machine working well again.

The blanket is fleece on one side and that soft swirly fabric on the other side. I think it's called Minky or somesuch. Most of the instructions I saw when investigating how to make the blanket said to make the pocket 18" but quite a few said to make the pocket 16". So I made it 12". Yeah, I had a logical reason for that. Don't do that. Make it 16" or 18".

The two fabrics are fairly thick so folding the blanket into the pocket is a struggle and a tight squeeze and after wrestling it into place the pillow is as hard as a rock. If it was just a single layer of fleece then the 12" would have worked nicely. But it's not. It's two layers of thick fabric.

The birthday girl loved it anyway!

If cramming the fabric into the pocket is too much of a hassle she can always use the pocket for a favorite bedtime book or slippers or a snack in the car instead.