I'm done with sewing. Next time I go straight to www.etsy.com.
Let me tell you about seatbelt covers. A long time ago, like in the 80s, my sister Lin made several of us seatbelt covers out of fabric - they folded in thirds, closed with Velcro, and protected your neck from the rubbing of the seatbelt. When Steve and I finally got a car (my first car of my own, ever), in 2003, I made us our own seatbelt covers, like a tiny quilt.
A few weeks ago, I noticed that ours had shredded. They were so worn, they were falling apart. Also, while talking to my sister BJ, she said she was going to ask Lin to make her some seatbelt covers, but she wanted a holder for her cellphone, because in a wreck, the cellphone would go flying.
And just over a week ago, my officemate Darla was involved in a car accident. A tire hit the car in front of her (from another accident), shearing off the windshield and roof, and Darla slowed down, but still ran into the car. She and another motorist were assisting the injured driver, who kept asking them to call her husband. But she kept giving them her cell phone number, which rang straight to voicemail. And her cellphone was nowhere to be found in her wrecked car.
So, these events combined motivated me to make some replacement seatbelt covers, and to attempt a holder for a cellphone. Luckily, I didn't have to buy quilting supplies, like a big bag of batting (padding), because I had three small - about 2' long - quilts from old rejected quilt projects.
I learned to quilt back in 2000. I wanted to make BJ a quilt for her 50th birthday. I made several small test quilts, then I made my very favorite quilt - a Whitestar. That's a starship from Babylon 5. It was huge! I taped up huge sheets of paper to the wall and freehanded the pattern. I've never taken a good picture of it, so Steve held it up for me:
It's about 9 feet long.
This is the quilt I made for BJ, in 2002. It took awhile to design it. The squares are landscape scenes, with roads curving around hills or next to water. BJ told me later, "How did you know my favorite thing? - Not knowing what's around the next bend in the road."
I have a soft spot for sewing. My Mom taught me how to sew when I was in grade school. I wanted a toy sewing machine, and she said, "Absolutely not! I'll teach you how to use my sewing machine." She said the same thing about an Easy Bake Oven. "Absolutely not! I'll teach you how to use the real oven." I never really got into sewing, never made my own clothes except one shirt in Home Ec. But I do know the basics.
After learning to quilt, I began to think about becoming a quilting artist. Reading Quilting Arts magazine will do that to you. I also tried using quilts as a way to display the little drawings from The Journaling Project. I tried a lot of things that didn't work. In the end, quilting just became a major waste of time, a MAJOR waste of money (fabric is expensive!). And, while working on these seatbelt covers, I discovered I no longer enjoy it. I need to invest my time into my drawing and painting, not sewing.
So, in case you want to make a set for yourself, here are the instructions.
I cut apart the little quilts into 9" squares. I was going to make sets, but for set #1, I cut and sewed proper quilt binding, and after sewing it on, I just couldn't bring myself to hand-sew the edge down. I just freaking didn't want to do it. So, I trashed that pair, and I only had two small quilts left. And they only yielded four covers. And I needed to send one to BJ, we needed one, and I also wanted to give one to Darla, and send one to Jami. So - no sets! At least we had one in the backseat (hardly ever used) that we moved to our passenger seat.
Oh - the small quilts were originally tie-quilts, so I had to freaking quilt them. What a pain.
I went out and bought Quilting Binding Tape - like Bias Tape, but wider. Here I'm fitting it on and pinning - what a pain!
And sewing on the binding - sticking myself with pins despite being careful! And realizing the thread didn't catch on both sides, so I had to sew over some areas again. I'm not the most expert seamstress! Then I sewed on non-adhesive Velcro, which holds it together. And my machine kept jamming! I finally adjusted the thread tension - to 3, no, not right, to 5, okay, that did it. Warning: I am not an expert! My machine probably needs to be taken apart and cleaned or something.
To make the cellphone holder, I used felt. I had to make several testers before I decided this size works best: 3 1/4" (3.25) x 10" - then fold the felt at 2" for the flap. I found that my marked green cutting mat was best for this - fold up one end so that 2" remains at the top, then stitch down one side, then up the other, sewing it right onto the seatbelt cover. I didn't attach Velcro for the cellphone holder - my cellphone fits pretty snug, so I figure in a crash it wouldn't dislodge, although I can't be sure.
Two finished covers - the one on the right has my cellphone in it. I hope it's big enough for everyone's cellphones!
Here is Steve modeling ours. Funny, he said this one is more comfortable than the old ones, which were too thick (see old one on passenger belt). I was always purchasing the wrong batting - extra thick vs. thin. These little quilts must have been made with the correct thin batting.
Steve said the best way to get the cellphone out is to push from the bottom of the felt holder.
**Special Thanks to BJ for the idea.**
***Oh, sonofab*tch! I just looked on www.etsy.com for "seatbelt cover" and there are a ton of them! Sh*t! Next time: Etsy, save me!***
