Two days.

It took me two days to sew on each sequin and bead - by hand!

Surprisingly, I didn't mind.

Hand sewing is relaxing.

I enjoyed watching the simple felt become a thing of beauty with every sequin and bead I added.

Materials Used:

raspberry Felt (hot pink)
tangerine Felt (bright orange)
batting
white cotton thread
pink cotton thread
pink sequins
pink beads
silver seed beads
light pink sequin trim (it's like a sequin ribbon!)

Tools Used:
pink scissors
pins
thimble
needle
Mom's sewing machine
my own nimble fingers
reading glasses*

The Creative Process:
Measure Twice, Cut Once
I "measured" my cell phone case. By "measure", I mean I eyeballed it...placed my cell phone on the pink felt added an extra inch for seam allowance and mistake making, and cut out the size felt I needed. Then, I placed that piece of felt on top of the orange felt and cut out the same size. Finishing up the measuring by placing the felt on top of the batting and cutting out the size I needed.

Pin in Place & Sew Straight Lines
I "sandwiched" the batting between the pink and orange felt, pinned it all the way around, flipped on the sewing machine, and stitched all the way around my rectangle shape. Once I finished securing the batting in place, I decided on a diagonal design, and started sewing from corner to corner. I lined up the foot along the completed stitching line, insuring straight stitches. Now, I had a design to follow to sew the sequins and beads on by hand.

Busy Hands Are Happy Hands
Grandmother always used to say this to me. She was right. I happily followed the diagonal lines as I secured each sequin and bead in place by hand. And, the time flew by! First, I stitched a sequin in place. Next, I threaded a bead on the needle, carefully drove the nose of the needle into the pink felt, through the batting, and out the orange. Good...bead tightly fixed in place. I moved on to the next and so on, and so on, and sew on! One more thing to do before I stitch it together so that it will hold the cell phone...hem the top edge. I trimmed off excess felt/batting, leaving a clean straight edge, folded down the top edge, and stitched it down by hand.

Seams to Me
Ah, the tricky part! The quilting the felt and batting sandwich helped flatten down the bulkiness of the three layers, but it was still too thick to fit under the sewing foot. I had to sew the seams together by hand. This was not easy and quite time consuming. Especially since I did it once by hand with a blanket stitch all the way around. Right sides together, I turned it right side out, and discovered that it needed something more. A flash of inspiration. I unpicked the beautiful blanket stitch and hauled out my silver seed beads and light pink sequin ribbon. I covered up the remaining white thread with the silver seed beads. I pinned the light pink sequin ribbon right side facing the right side to the pink felt now with sequins and beads. By hand I stitched it in place all along the seam line. Finishing off, I turned the case right side out...BEAUTY! I now have a pretty pink sparkly case for my cell phone.

Comments, Please
I'm so pleased with this project that I've already begun working on a second one and will be adding this item to my Etsy shop, Pink Scissors Design.

What color would you like to see offered?

*reading glasses - these came with turning 40 this year!

Linking Up
I'm linking up with these fantastic craft link parties!