Elephants on Parade - Sewing Machine Cover

This one has been on my project list for a while, and I finally got round to it last week. My sewing machine came with a white plastic dust cover, which although practical, wasn’t very inspiring. You might remember from my trip to the Knitting & Stitching Show in the autumn that I bought a piece of African elephant print cotton in gorgeous bold colours, it was in fact a half metre cut. Then, the most recent issue of Mollie Makes arrived on my doorstep with a very useful pattern for a sewing machine cover. There, a perfect combination!

The magazine pattern was designed to have a pieced chevron front, but the overall principle of the pattern was easily applicable to any other fabric. Using the plastic cover as a template, I measured out all the pieces I’d need and serendipitously discovered that my half metre of elephants was absolutely the exact right size! I also had some old bed sheeting in my stash that I've used for the lining.

I wanted to pad my cover out a bit more so got some quilt wadding, which actually turned out a little thicker than I anticipated, but it’ll just give my sewing machine a bit more protection. It was also a test for the sewing machine to sew through all the layers at a couple of points!

The pattern instructions were pretty straightforward, and it turned out to be quite a quick make, only a couple of hours last weekend. I’m really pleased with how it ended up, the only slightly fiddly bit was tucking all the layers in for the handle opening once the whole thing has been turned the right way out.

So now my sewing machine has a snuggly new coat and looks much more fun with the elephants marching all the way round (by the way, I’m almost ecstatic that I managed to line up the pattern all the way round!), and I’ve used up some fabric that had been in my stash for a while – definitely something I want to do more of this year, what with having limited storage space in my room!

What have you all been making recently? I’ve also been knitting a baby blanket for a friend and have plans for more me-knitting soon, as well as more dressmaking projects. I’m really looking forward to the new series of The Great British Sewing Bee starting next week and will enjoy watching the catch up with the Class of 2014 this evening, hope you’re watching too!