Posted on 6 Comments

Picture this

You might want to sit down for this, or at least hold on to something.  Are you ready?  Here goes:  I did something crafty today and it didn’t involve yarn or a hook.  Truly.  I kid you not.

Friday afternoon, I signed for an eagerly-awaited package at my door, brought it into the house, tore it open, and beheld with glee my very own DSLR camera. Squeeeee!

It’s Sunday afternoon now, and I have easily taken 600 pictures in the interim, all which are proving to me that there was more of a difference between my old camera and this one than I’d thought.  Oh, this was soooo worth squirreling away my pennies for the last year.  So worth it.

New camera strap

Undoubtedly there will be more camera talk here later, but today I want to show you the new patchwork strap I made.  New expensive toys need new handmade accessories, I think.

Sure, I probably could have just used the old strap – the one with the pocket for the lens cap, but where’s the fun in that?  (Remind me I said this in roughly three days when I have misplaced the cap, again.)

New camera strap

It’s been a while since I pawed through my stash of designer remnants, so it was a nice surprise to find some Lotusstill around.  And there was still more of that green linen skirt from last time, waiting to be chopped up.  I cut it to roughly 2 inches wide by 30 inches long (I like my straps longer than is standard), and made a patchwork strip from the Lotus pieces.

New camera strap

The strips were placed right sides together, and sewn along the perimeter, leaving a section open for turning.  Seams were trimmed to 1/4-inch, the strap was turned right-side-out, and pressed.  Vertical lines were sewn along the length of the strap, paying careful attention to the opening and being sure to stitch it closed.

Old camera strap

365 day 234 - Sewing a camera strap

Then came the irritating part – ripping the seams out of the little leather tabs in the strap that came with the camera.  It was time-consuming, but eventually I prevailed, took out the existing strap, and added my own strap in its place.  I sewed it together following the original stitch lines, attached it to the camera, and voila!

New camera strap

New camera, new strap.

It’s got its flaws (as most of my sewing projects do), but I can look past a little bit of wonky in the interest of being able to whip up something useful and pretty in a relatively short time.

And with that, I am off to find something to feed my family – we’ve been out to eat more times this week than should be humanly possible.  It’s crazy. And I will be big as a house if it doesn’t stop!

LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH!

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Posted on 6 Comments

6 thoughts on “Picture this

  1. Very, very lovely. Just the right retro for the shining new toy.

    1. Thanks, I am pleased with it. I am looking forward to a nice sunny (not too muggy, not too hot!) day to take the camera and the strap out for a spin!

  2. What can I say ‘you clever girl’. The choice of fabric looks good and so easy to make. Maybe if I make a new strap then it will inspire me to change my camera.
    Happy Week

    1. Thanks, I am very happy with it! Don’t know how clever I am, though. I didn’t come up with the idea – I’ve seen it a lot around the internet in the last few years 🙂

  3. I love your new camera strap! I think this is something I can actually do (I’m not much if a sewer). Anyway, I wanted to let you know that there is this little thingy you can get that sticks to your lens cap, has a short cord attached to it, then attached to that is an elastic loop that you slip over your lens. Voila, no lost lens cap! Best invention ever, and it costs something like $3!

  4. […] giving Neil my old camera to take with him to China when he goes. It’s six years old, but it’s still got plenty of beautiful pictures left in it, so I hope he comes back with […]

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