DIY Camera Strap Cover

This year Wes and I thought that in addition to our regular Christmas shopping, it would be nice to make some of our gifts ourselves. While this definitely helped with the budget, it was also a nice way to have special, personal gifts for our family. As I was searching through lots of tutorials for gift ideas, I came across one for a Ruffled Camera Strap by Kevin {&} Amanda. Let me just say I was SUPER excited! My sister loves photography and I thought this would make a fantastic accessory to her {super legit} camera. After looking it over, I knew there were a couple of things I wanted to do a little differently than in the tutorial, but it was definitely a great starting point/idea to get me started!

Here she is photographing my baby… while I photograph her 🙂

To do this you will need 1/2 yard of each of your fabrics. {I thought this was a bit excessive at first, but it’s mainly to get the length without having to piece together strips. There’s plenty leftover!}. You don’t need to have two ruffle layers either, I thought it looked pretty good with just one ruffle {but I already bought the other fabric!} or you could even do a basic cover with no ruffles if you like to keep it simple.

The next step is to measure your strap and cut your fabric pieces to size. {I had to sneakily measure my sister’s, so it’s not pictured, but check out the original tutorial for pictures of hers – which I believe is the same one.}

The strap measurements were 24″ x 1.75″. The original tutorial added an inch to each of these measurements [25″ x 2.75] and then cut two strips and sewed them together. I didn’t see the point in cutting two strips to sew them back together, so I used one piece for the main cover: I doubled the width FIRST then added my extra inch to each measurement, making my strip 25″ x 4.5″. I cut my first ruffle 2″ wide, and the second ruffle 1.75″ wide, using the full length of my fabric.

I used the straight edge to trim my fabric before cutting since the fabric store doesn’t cut perfectly straight.

Next I pressed & hemmed the ends of my main piece {1/4″ – using a back-stitch with all seams} and then pressed it the long ways so I could see the middle and to help it keep its shape once it was finished.

I then pressed & sewed a 1/4 seam down the sides of my ruffle strips. I used the “vine” stitch on my vine fabric {how could I not??} and a regular stitch on my zebra fabric. To “ruffle” my strips I used the longest length and the shortest width on my machine, and it did all the work for me!

I then pinned the ends and middle of my fabric and sewed down the middle {Remember to reset the stitch length!}. The first strip was just a little too long, so I had to “scrunch” it as I sewed in a couple places, but it was super easy. After attaching the ruffle to the cover I removed the “basting” stitch {it pulls out pretty easily} and repeated the process with the second ruffle. After the ruffles were attached, I sewed over all three layers on both ends to keep everything secure.

I placed my ruffle slightly more towards the center since I’d be losing a 1/4″ when I did the final seam

The last step is to fold the inside in and sew the cover hem {remembering to back-stitch} and then turn the whole thing right side out!

I added a couple charms on the end…

I love the continuous look of the single piece of fabric for the main cover 🙂

 Thanks to my lovely sister for modeling her new strap for me!

Kate Alyse

Kate Alyse

Kate is a proud mama to six amazing little sweeties {through birth + adoption} and wife to the best husband a girl could ask for! She considers herself blessed to be able to stay home with the kids, and is just starting to get into the world of homeschooling. In her "spare-time" she enjoys sharing many of the projects, stories, and gluten-free recipes that are a part of their every day lives!

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