Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Tues Tutorial~ Quarter Keeper

In a day when we really need Superman, he would be hard pressed to find a phone booth. Therefore, we had kind of gotten out of the habit of making sure we kept a quarter in our pocket/purse. 
    Then appears the stores that use the idea of a quarter to keep their shopping carts out of the parking lot without hiring someone to do that job. I don't carry a purse when I shop, so I'd be embarrassed to admit how many times I'd get half way to the shopping cart and have to turn around to go dig around in my car for a quarter.
    Recently, I saw a great idea of a key chain Quarter Keeper pop up on my Facebook feed. That was a great solution to my problem. I'd already been carrying on my key chain a "Cash Stasher" for an emergency $20 bill. I designed it back in 2014. 
    No instructions were given for the Quarter Keeper. It was made with hardware which would add cost. My plan was to use my scraps and therefore I'd make them for free.  I extensively researched online for a design that would use fabric and no hardware. I was thinking along the design of the envelope pillow case. Everything I found was made of a type of leather or included a snap. So I spent a couple of days with my small scraps and came up with this idea. 



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Tuesday Tutorial
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This little Quarter Keeper won't add much weight to your key chain.
First pull out scrap pieces that are at least 
2½ x 2 inches
Also strips that are 3 cm wide and at least 2 inches long.
 
Yes, in this case it's easier to use the metric measurement.
It was on the other side of
 my old long time used, now called vintage, sewing gauge.
 
 
Cut two 2½ x 2 inch pieces
 
Fold each in half
and press to crease fold.
Find a fabric you want to be on the back side.
To save time of cutting another specific sized piece,
just use a piece that is larger than the 2 folded pieces
when laid side by side.
It can be very big like this piece.
 

Lay one folded piece with fold down.
(Notice I used the upper right corner to save fabric space.)


Take the other folded piece
overlap the folded end
over the other folded end about a quarter inch.
 
Be sure to match the side edges of the 2 pieces.]
Now,
I use my gauge to measure each side
to be equal.
 
Make a strap from a 3 cm by over 2 inches long.
Look at picture below or
 
Fold in half lengthwise,
unfold
fold lengthwise raw edges to center
press.
Fold in half lengthwise meeting the folded edges.
Edge stitch on both sides.
Cut about a 2 inch piece for loop.
Fold in half.
See above where loop was pinned.
The folded end of the loop goes inside.
The raw ends go outside the seam edges.
The picture below shows how the strap is folded to center
and edged stitched.
 


Pinned down,
ready to stitch
1/4 inch all around 
Stitch multiple times
over the loop end
and each overlapped fold
where stress will be applied the most.



Trim out the piece
cutting down the seam as you go
to about 1/8 inch
and trim off corners

TURN INSIDE OUT
through the folded edges
Like I did on the following which was my prototype
with the loop on the other side.
So you can put wherever you desire.



With no interfacing used,
these pieces are very easy to turn inside out
and poke out corners
with your favorite device.
Mine is an old aluminum knitting needle
that lost its mate.

Making these things were as bad as potato chips.
I couldn't stop at one.
They were so quick and easy.
 
With no hardware or interfacing,
they were also super cheap,
basically free.

 EnJOY giving them to others.


This link was posted at the following Linky.
I thank them for giving me a chance to share this link.
Go check them out for many other ideas.

4 comments:

  1. Brilliant! We discovered that the store here that makes you use a quarter to get a cart also sells 'tokens' that come with an attachment to hold onto your key ring. Think they only cost us a couple of bucks to get one and so far it works well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is so cute - would make a fun stocking stuffer for my peeps!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG how cute! I think you just gave me the idea of what I can make for Christmas gifts this year! Saving this post to favorites.

    ReplyDelete
  4. These are really cute, thank you for sharing this idea with us at Handmade Monday :-)

    ReplyDelete

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