Makers Month: Make it: Cable Cosy + free PDF download

Being Makers Month here on our blog I wanted to create a tutorial for you that used home grown fabric.  I love American fabric designers like Robert Kaufman, but I have recently fallen in love with a new British company Dashwood Studio. We stock their fabric in my shop Sew Crafty and they are a great seller for us, our customers love that they are a British company using British designers.

David Sweet (Awesome name), director of Dashwood was kind enough to tell me a little about their company.

''Dashwood is just over a year old , its been exciting. We have had a lovely reception from customers . I think the domestic market was eager for a home grown fabric company producing quality contemporary collections. We only use UK designers , there are so many talented artists here , they bring a different aesthetic to the design process, its a nice alternative to all the American fabrics companies .

I worked in the States as creative director for a textile company before opening Dashwood, the time there opened my eyes,  the way they promote the designers,  embrace technology , market the products , so much more professional than here . Some of this thinking we definitely bought to Dashwood''

You may have already seen that we used Dashwood Studio fabrics in our feature for Mollie Makes and again for this project I have used their Petit Street collection. 

This is the mess of tangled cables and gadgets and thingys that usually lurk at the bottom of my bag or in a pocket if I am lucky, some live on my desk and they are nearly always tangled. Fun huh! I have been waiting to make this piece for ages and playing around with the design and when packing for my holiday I just bit the bullet and made one up. the solution to my untidy cable issues.  A Home and Away Cable Cosy.

You will need: Two 1/2 metre pieces of contrasting fabrics, 1/2 metre medium weight iron on interfacing, 10'' zip, thread, poppers, elastic, a small belt clasp, 30cm of felt, scissors, iron, sewing machine and pins.
As always you can make this project without a sewing machine, by hand sewing your pieces together.

Start by making yourself a zip accessories pouch, I used the same technique as we did in the make-up bag tutorial we did last year. Start by cutting two pieces of each of your fabrics, I cut mine 23cm x15cm. Iron on interfacing to the fabric you want to use for your lining. Then pop your zip in-between the two right-sides of your lining and outside fabric facing up towards the outside fabric. Sew the zip in place. Fold both pieces back and repeat on the other side of the zip.

Fold the second lot of pieces back and run a line of top stitching to hold the fabrics away from the zip teeth when the pouch is in use. Now undo the zip halfway. Once you have done that, take the two outer pieces and the two lining pieces and pin them together facing each other. Sew all the way around the outside and the lining leaving a small 7cm opening in the lining. Turn the whole thing inside out and hand sew up the hole in the lining before pushing the lining inside the pouch.

To make the cable tidy part of the cosy, cut two larger pieces of your fabrics 25cm x 45cm and iron on some interfacing to the lining fabric - again to give it a little more body.  Then pin two rows of elastic along the longer length, mine were about 7cm apart. Sew the elastic at between 2-3cm spacing all the way down the length, varying the spacing as you go to fit larger and smaller cables, across both rows of elastic. Then sew one side of your popper into place about a third of the way up and about 3cm in. 

Take a small length of elastic and your belt clasp and loop the clasp onto the elastic then sandwich that at the top edge between your two fabrics right sides facing.  I also added a layer of felt to the sandwich to help give a little protection to my cables if I am taking it around with me. Sew all the way around all of the layers, leaving about a 5cm gap at the end. Turn the whole piece inside out then sew all the way around the outside with a neat top stitch. attach the other end of the buckle with some more elastic and attach it on the outside of the cosy.

If like me you are using a directional fabric, think about which direction it will be facing when it is folded as well as when it is hung up, I wish I had made mine the other way as you can't really see that it is the right way up when it is hanging and it looks upside down when it is folded up on the outside.

Also don't forget to stitch the poppers onto the zipped pouch so you can attach it when it's hanging or take it off if you need to take it out with you.

There you have it, a cable tidy/ gadget accessories cosy that can hang neatly under your desk and come out with you when you need to travel with your tech.

I put all my cables in the elasticated tidy section and smaller items like memory cards, my Juice cube and plugs can go in the pouch.

Mine now lives happily on a contact hook under my desk most of the time, but neatly fits in my hand bag or camera bag for when I am out and about. I love that I can also just pop a few accessories in the zip pouch if I don't need all my cables on the go. 

Do you have a favourite British fabric company? or fabric designer? Do your cables end up like mine? Will you be making yourself a cable cosy? Or maybe making a bunch for Christmas gifts? (sorry I mentioned the C word) If you do, post a pic and #livelovemake so we can see!

We have added a PDF of this project so you can download and keep it for future reference.

Have a great weekend
Sammy xxx

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