On Monday I posted this picture of some camera strap covers I made over the weekend.

They received a bit of interest, so I thought I’d share with you how I made them.  I’ve made about 7 or 8 of these in the last year and a half or so and I’ve got the process down (don’t be confused by my mess up, it was a measure twice, cut once issue)!  So much so that it took me about 30 minutes to whip up a new one, while taking photos along the way.

A friend of mine showed my a picture of a strap cover she liked back in the day and asked if I could make her one.  At the time there weren’t any tutorials floating around the internet, so I just kind of winged it and it worked!  This is not the only way to do it, it’s just the way I do it.

You need very little fabric for this project.  I use cotton for the cover, jersey knit for the ruffle.  Jersey knit doesn’t fray, so you don’t have to hem the edges!  Half a yard of fabric will yield you several strap covers!

I have a Nikon, so my measurements are based of the Nikon camera strap.  You can easily adjust the measurements to you camera strap, though.

My strap measures 20 inches between the two leather ends.

And 1.5″ wide.

So I cut my fabric at 2.5″.

And 21″.

You’ll need two of these strips.

I then cut my jersey knit.  I’m going for a two layer ruffle, so my wide ruffle I cut at 2″.

I cut the top ruffle at 1.5″.

I like my ruffles really ruffly, so I don’t cut them lengthwise.

With right sides together, stitch down one long end of your fabric strips.

I use a 1/4″ hem as I like my cover to be a bit wider than my strap so it’s easier to get on and off.

Press your seam open.

To finish the short ends fold up your fabric 1/4″ and press.

Fold it up again and press again.  Here’s the only part of the process where I use pins!

Repeat on the other end and then straight stitch both ends.

Now we’re going to ruffle.  Set your machine to the longest stitch length.

Stitch a straight line down the middle of each of your knit pieces, leaving extra thread on the ends to gather.  Do NOT backstitch!

Gather your fabric by gently pulling on the bottom thread.

Gather to the length of your strap.

Repeat the process with your top ruffle and center your skinny ruffle on top of your fat ruffle.

The ruffles can get a bit twisty, so make sure you untwist it as you go.  And make sure that the edges of your ruffle are pulled away from the center, since that’s where we’re going to stitch.

Line up the edge of your large ruffle with the seam you’ve stitched attaching the two pieces.  Return your stitch length to normal and stitch down the middle.

Take it slow to make sure your ruffle edges don’t try to creep back up into the middle.

Tucking your ruffle in, match your right sides together again to finish off the other long end.  You don’t want to catch any ruffle edges in your seam!

Stitch your tube, while keeping those ruffles safely tucked inside!

Flip your cover right side out.

Once I flip it out I go ahead and press it as it can get a bit twisty.  I just place the cover ruffle side down and press the backside (don’t press too hard!).

That’s, it!  You’re done!  Now admire your work!

Which color do you prefer?

And because this beat up thing has been on my camera too long……

(This was the 2nd camera strap cover I ever made)

I took a “Hey, I’m taking a picture of myself in the bathroom mirror” picture just for you to show off my new cover.

So hopefully if you are handy with a camera you are also handy with a sewing machine and can pretty up your camera strap!

 

p.s.  If you want a little more cushion on your strap cover cut a piece of fleece (fusible fleece works great) the same width and length as your straps and add it to the back side (non-ruffle side) of your cover.  My previous cover had the fleece in it and while it was more cushy it also made my neck sweaty so I opted not to use it this time.