No spend summer - Bethany from Bethsco

Hi, I'm Bethany. I love to make lots of stuff and I blog about it at bethsco.blogspot.com. That's the short version of what I do, anyway. Rhiannon asked if I'd make something for her No Spend Summer theme and I am flattered to share one of my projects on her blog. Her projects are always inspiring and I hope to follow suite.

I live in California. And here, if I forget my sunglasses, I always feel like my eyes are being irradiated by the summer sun. Anyway, don't judge too harshly when you see my sunglasses here please because I have no style when it comes to sunglasses. They are merely practical to me... besides being purple. That's just fun. To get to the point, though they are cheap, it's still annoying when they get scratched up in my purse. So the kids and I set out to make sunglass cases with some scrap fabrics we had around. They got to pick out the fabrics and decorations and had a lot of fun doing it. It was a pretty good success story in the end. Though if I'm honest I'll admit that after the kids' cases are done and well used, I've still yet to finish mine because I'm having a decisional conflict regarding what fabric to use. I know. Decisional isn't a word. Hopefully Rhiannon will give the the leeway to use it on her blog though. I usually say that it's my blog and I can say what I want, but that's not so true today. No reason they have to be for sunglasses either. They'd work well to replace boring standard cases for reading glasses or any eyeglasses.

This is a simple and quick project that can be personalized easily. Here's the how... First, to make a pattern, I cut out a paper rectangle that was 6 inches by 3 inches. I checked the size with my glasses to make sure it would fit and made one corner of the rectangle rounded by tracing a container lid that I liked the curve of.

I marked the straight long edge of the rectangle to go on the fold of the fabric. I cut out a liner and outer piece for each sunglass case. The liner was made of felt to cushion and give some substance to the case. The outer fabrics were a knit material so I wouldn't have to finish any edges.

Fold over the fabric and put that straight long line on the fold. Trace around your pattern piece and cut out.

Do the same with the outer fabric.

Next, embellish your outer fabric. We sewed on some butterflies and flowers from the same old dress that we used for the outer fabric of this case. And we embroidered my daughter's first initial.

Then we placed the liner and outer fabric together and sewed across the top to secure.

Next, we folded them in half along the fold line, and just sewed up the two sides, leaving the top open.

front- glasses case 1

back- glasses case 1

For decorating the baby's glasses case, I embroidered her first initial and cut out some hearts from striped fabric and sewed them on.

front- glasses case 2

back- glasses case 2

The kids all loved their new cases! My boy's case had to be made differently because his sunglasses were huge and he wanted a woven fabric, but I may save that for another post sometime. I do hope you're inspired to make one of these sunglass cases and save your glasses from scratches. A button and loop could be added at the top but we've had no trouble with glasses falling out. If you'd like to use a fabric that is more prone to fray as the outer fabric you could consider binding for a finished look on the edges.

Thanks, Rhiannon, again for a spot on your blog and I'll leave you all with some photos of my kids who love their sunglasses and having a great little place to stash them now!

Love Bethany's idea, and her kids are SO cute! Thanks Bethany!

For other no spend summer ideas click here.