Sewing a Jewelry Travel Case

“Big girls need big diamonds.” – Elizabeth Taylor

What’s the point of owning a wide range of jewelry, when you can’t take all of it with you when travelling? Well, I probably could live with a single pair of earrings and just one necklace (sometimes that’s enough for weeks), but wouldn’t it be much better to be able to take more than that with you when you travel?

I lost a lot of jewelry by damaging and scratching it through storing it carelessly.

To keep that from happening, I had the idea of sewing a jewelry case that’s soft enough to keep my stuff from being scratched.

I came up with this soft jewelry roll which has different compartments for rings, ear studs, necklaces and bracelets:

I love travelling with this one, the only disadvantage is that it’s open on the sides. I haven’t lost anything yet, but I’m a little afraid stuff might fall out.

Anyway, I made another one as a gift for Christmas, considering the problem this time.

And – of course – I didn’t forget to take pictures of the process.

*drumroll* – Here comes the tutorial!

#1 What you need:

– at least two different matching kinds of fabric (depending on how large you want the jewelry case to be, about 40-50 cm/0,5 yd should be enough)
– matching thread
– a zipper (approx. 20 cm/8”)
– small decorative buttons
– two buttons and ribbon or some other kind of fastener

for embellishing:
– iron-on transfers/ fabric with a cute imprint/ beads/ sequins etc.

#2 The fabric cutting.

*Plan your pattern!
*Draft your pattern!
*Be accurate and check twice before cutting.

This is a draft of the “pattern” I used. (Actually, I didn’t use a pattern, I started cutting right away, but this requires you having a precise plan in your head. It’s not that hard, since the shapes are all angular).

I used 3 different kinds of fabric. This is colour-coded in the picture above.

Also:
A – outer fabric
B – parts of first layer of lining
C – parts of second layer of lining

I’ll refer to the letters in the above key in the next steps.

*Dont forget the seam allowance before cutting everything out!*

#3 The Sewing Together.

*Adding the iron-on transfers/imprints.

I found the cute hippo picture online (here) and just printed it with my normal printer on white cotton. I explained how I did that in the comments of this post.

Printing with normal ink means it’s not waterproof!

Tip: I’ve read that black ink can be made waterproof, when you dip it into vinegar, let it dry and then press it. I just pressed it (imprint facing down), which should be enough for normal use. It shouldn’t be machine washed though.

Add any embellishments before sewing (I added some sequins and beads).

Make sure whatever you want to add is in the right place before you sew/iron. Especially when it’s intended to be centered (consider the seam allowance etc.)

If you want to use decorative buttons as I did (e.g. for earrings) sew them onto B2 before  sewing together the other pieces.

*Adding the zipper.

I applied a zipper to B1, which will be the front of an inside pocket in the lining.
To do this, pin the zipper, mark it’s position and then cut out a slit, as seen above.

Pin the zipper in the right place and sew. I just used the normal presser foot.

Sew together B1 and C3, both right side up. Be precise with the seam allowance. You don’t want the seam to be seen later on, it might be even better to use a slightly narrower seam allowance.

For the flaps: Sew together A2+A3 (2x), right sides together. Turn inside out.

Sew B3 onto B2 (right sides together) along the outer edges (leaving out the fold line as marked in the cutting plan). Then turn inside out.

After turning inside out, stitch along close to the edge.

Fold the side edges of B4 to center line (2x) and stitch as seen in the picture below. 

Stich B4 onto B2 as shown in the picture below.

Do the same with C2 (3x) and C1. Here you don’t have to extra stitch the C2 pieces, if you sew them onto C1 with the open seam facing down.

Sew B2 onto C1 (both right side facing up), sewing along the fold line of B2.

Sew B1’s upper edge onto B2’s bottom edge (right sides together). Now you’re done with the lining! It should look like this:

Before sewing together A and the lining, don’t forget to add the flaps. Pin them (lining fabric facing up) onto the A piece (right side up). Stich close to the edge (about half of the seam allowance).
Also, add the fastener. I made two small loops out of ribbon and stitched them onto A1.

Before you pin A and the lining together (right sides together), make sure you fold down the B2-B3-flap to avoid stitching it down accidentally. (Things like that always seem to happen to me…!)Leave a big enough gap to turn the whole thing inside out (approx. 5-6 cm should do, you can handstitch that part later on). Press everything and apply the two buttons for the closure. Done!

 

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