sewing with the teenage mutant ninja turtles!

Remember the teaser picture I shared with you based on my monthly crafty challenge last month? Well now I am very happy to say I have finished the idea that came to me during the last week of May, which was a set of 4 covers based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

I was mainly inspired by some cushion covers I had seen at comic con the weekend before, and I pointed them out to Ben who dutifully said "You could make those". Of course this is not necessarily in the spirit of supporting fellow crafters in making their living in a craft they love, but I do not intend to sell these, and I was thinking of sharing a tutorial to make these but decided not to for the same reason. So I hope you won't mind! 

As you can see, each turtle has been given something to cover! Leonardo (blue mask) has been made into a cushion cover, complete with a zip along the top for easy removal for washing. Raphael (red mask) has been made into a much more snug-fitting laptop sleeve than the one I previously knitted, the main design feature being an over top flap which is fastened with a velcro strip to hold the laptop in securely. Michelangelo (orange mask) acts as a tablet sleeve for my Lenovo tablet and keyboard - a very helpful design feature which doesn't always exist with tablet sleeves. Finally, Donatello (purple mask) protects my Nintendo 3DS XL and he, as well as Michelangelo, match Raphael's over top flap design.

here are the 3 electronics' cases open so you can see the (expertly) sewn flaps with velcro fastening

I made all of these cases with fabric I already had in the house, left over from an Avatar The Last Air Bender blanket I had sewn many eons ago. The eyes and mask are all cut from standard felt (though the blue and red were cut from much larger pieces than one would normally buy in Hobbycraft or a similar craft supply shop) and the green material is actually much heavier duty than felt which is why I felt comfortable using it to make electronics cases. I can't actually speak as to what it is, as I bought from a market in Leicester where the man at the stall accidentally sold it to me as felt, although I believe it is actually a much more expensive wool blend of some sort.

I really love how all of these cases match so easily, achieved through the minimalist but distinctive design that (I hope) clearly denotes these guys as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were all very easy to make once I had the basic design worked out, and pieces were cut out free hand, pinned together and sewn using a machine. Initially I used a stick on velcro strip which didn't hold at all. I tried to sew it into place but the glue bunged up my needle on my machine, causing me to change it twice! I switched to a sew-friendly velcro and everything was fine in the end.

They aren't quite perfect - which comes from cutting out pieces free-hand and only pinning into place - but I am extremely pleased with how they have turned out. My room has that extra cowabunga touch to it now, as will my bag if ever I need to take the gadgets out and about. 

 

Hope you like them as much as I do!