Hello friends! It’s literally been forever since I’ve posted, and not because I haven’t been sewing, because I have, but it’s all been stuff that’s “normal” for me, nothing new and exciting and worth sharing…..until now! So settle in, here comes story time with Shawna lol!
As you can see in my “lovely” Bitmoji above, and side note on that but for anyone that uses Bitmoji, do you dislike the latest update that changed your, what was a cute little cartoonish character into this new weirdo version, cause I sure do, and I also digress so on with the story lol……back to my Bitmoji, you’ll see I’m wearing glasses because, spoiler alert, I wear glasses in real life lol! Recently I finally ordered myself 3 new pairs, 2 regular glasses and my first ever prescription sunglasses (side note again, but those prescription sunglasses are a game changer lol!). Now you may be thinking that I won the lottery, how else can I afford 3 pairs of new glasses at once, and I didn’t even tell you that I wear progressive so those are even more expensive, starting at around $800….EACH! Sadly, no lottery win here, but my secret is that I order my glasses online, which I have been doing for as long as I’ve worn glasses which is 15 years! I used to order them from Zenni, which has been great, but they are manufactured in the US so this time I decided to see if I could find any that were Canadian, and I did! I ordered from a company out of Vancouver, BC, and my 3 pairs of glasses ended up costing me less than $300….TOTAL!
This sounds like an infomercial lol, so I’ll finally get to the point lol! The glasses come in these amazing boxes to protect them….the only problem with the box is that it’s kinda huge, like I was thinking I was going to have to make myself a new purse to hold 2 of these cases! They are just over 1.5″ high so as long as I just carried one, it wasn’t too bad but here’s the problem with that….obviously I can only wear one pair at a time so whatever pair I’m not wearing, they’re in the box…..but what do I do when I’m not wearing either? I don’t have to wear them for distance so sometimes I don’t wear them at all, and that means that one pair is in the box and one is just floating around all willy-nilly in my purse and that scares me that they’re going to get scratched!
I decided that I would just make smaller cases for them, that seemed like an easy solution. They wouldn’t be as protected as the box but I thought I would try a couple of different interfacing options to see which provided the most padding.
But wait a second…..as I was just looking for a free sewing pattern for a fun case to sew, I came across something that was so clever, and something I’d truthfully never seen and had no idea even existed!!! Are you ready for this…..here’s what I saw……..
….ummmmm, what!!!! Do you see it, do you see that this is an eyeglass holder but for 2 pairs at the same time!!!!!!!! This super awesome pattern is the Double Eyeglasses Case Sewing Pattern from Notches Sewing and sells for $6 CDN. For that price, you simply get the pattern piece, there are no written instructions but instead you follow along with a very well done YouTube video that is super easy to follow! I also found another YouTube video that is very similar and includes everything for free, and we like free right lol? That one is by Christine’s Home Affairs and it was great too!
I decided to follow along with the free option so I grabbed some fabrics and away I went to start off on what would become the first of 3 attempts lol! The first 2 attempts was me trying 2 different interfacing options, Pellon Flex Foam for one and Zorb for the other. I like the density of the Zorb and the cushion of the Flex Foam however, they were both too thick for this project because you are basically folding one long piece into thirds so you end up with 3 layers of the interfacing, plus your 2 fabrics, and that is too thick for almost any machine to sew through lol!
Oh, and as you can also see, I had a “bright” idea to use minky as one of the fabrics because in my mind, it would act as a soft cleaner for the glasses lol! Of course that added even more to the thickness so that was another no-go!
Finally I resorted to just using 2 cottons and Thermolam and after a very quick few minutes of sewing, I had a completed double sided eye glass case of my own!
I’m super pleased with this little practical project! Both pairs of glasses fit in there quite snug, snug enough that I’m not worried about them falling out! I used some now discontinued cottons, both of which I love so much! Also, to make those lovely rounded edges, I used my handy-dandy Creative Grid Curved Corner Cutter and it just makes it so easy to get a nice, precise and clean curve!
Once you figure out your materials, this is such a quick little sew, you could be whipping up a multitude of them for your friends or your next craft sale!
While I am happy with this one, I’m feeling like I’m not quite done with experimenting with the heavier interfacings. The Thermolam definitely provides some padding but I think the glasses would still get damaged quite easily if I accidentally put too much pressure on the case and I just think the Flex Foam would be more protective! My thoughts to try next time is just to keep the foam out of the seam allowance at the bottom and sides, it’s worth a shot right?!? If you’re interested, I’ll keep you updated!
And once I figure out my final materials, I’ll be making a few more for myself, just to have options and just because they’re super fun lol!
Well friends, it was a blast to “chat” again, and I’ll try to not stay away so long next time! I hope you’re all well, and of course, I’m hoping you find some time to do something nice for you! Cheers friends!
Shawna
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