I’ve just finished making myself a sewing machine cover, not because it’s left for long enough to gather much dust, more that I needed a use for a gorgeous quilting design I saw on facebook.

The sewing machine design is part of the Snap-Shots Quilt Along, a quilt Block of the Month in aid of St Judes Childrens Research Hospital. The idea is that in exchange for downloading the pattern, you send a donation to the hospital, they’ve raised thousands of pounds already. I’m not following the Quilt Along, but having seen some gorgeous results on facebook, I had to do this one. I chose some pretty turquoise/blue and gold fabrics which have been in my stash for ages, waiting for that special project. Helen gave me a storage box for Christmas covered with a peacock design, so I thought this would co-ordinate in my sewing room! The main fabric for the back and sides is a batik which just happened to coordinate beautifully.

The instructions for the quilted design were very easy to follow, I cut out the blocks row by row in an attempt to manage some pattern matching, I was partially successful in that!

I found a pattern for a sewing machine cover on Strawberry Patches, I particularly liked the pockets on the side, not sure I’ll actually use them but they look nice!! The pattern is very straight forward and easy to follow, it tells you how to work out your pattern according to the size of the sewing machine, but it is based on a rectangular cover….my machine isn’t rectangular!

I cut out the fabric pieces according to the instructions. I made the pockets and attached iron on wadding and interfacing to give a bit of body. I decided to do some simple machine quilting, so using my walking foot I quilted just inside the sewing machine shape. I felt the back needed a little something too so after much thought I stitched a stylised ‘M’ for Margaret, (basically a big zig-zag!!) with three rows of stitches. The sides just had three straight rows above the pocket.

I used the plastic cover of my machine to draw around the shapes directly onto the fabric back…probably not my best idea, it worked well, but if I’d made a paper pattern instead I could have used it for the lining, instead I had to draw round again!!

I wanted a neat fit, so I stitched one end piece onto the front and back, then tried it for size, so I could tweak it as necessary before sewing the other end. I stitched the lining the same way, then remembered I was meant to leave a gap for turning…unpicked a gap…then stitched the outside to the lining. I top-stitched round the bottom to keep the lining neat.

Just got to remember to use it now 🙂