Camera Strap Tutorial

I love the new camera strap covers I have been seeing everywhere on ETSY. After looking at them, I decided I didn't need to pay $14-$33 for a camera strap when I could make my own. I love how it turned out too. =)

Now, all camera straps are the same width. Most of the DSLR cameras have a wide strap, but my new camera came with a narrow 1" wide strap. The part you want to measure is the actual strap, not the width of the little leather piece that encases the strap and the little narrow strip that actually attaches to the camera. That leather piece will be showing after the strap cover is on your camera strap.

After you have measured your strap, you are going to want to cut a piece of fabric. For mine, I cut a piece 3" wide. For the length, I only cut off the selvage at the end of the fabric.

Next, on the WRONG side of the fabric, you are going to turn in the SHORT ends of your fabric by a 1/4" and press. Then, turn it in another 1/4", sew, and repeat for the other end of the fabric. This will give you the finished edges so there is no unraveling of the fabric when applying it to your strap, or removing it from your strap.

Now you are ready to create a tube. This is done by folding the fabric in half length wise with RIGHT sides touching. (At this point you can pin it, but I prefer not to pin if I don't have to.) After folding in half, I pressed the fabric. This was sufficient to keep the pieces in place so I could sew it. I stitched the length of the fabric using a 1/2" seam.

Now you are ready to turn your camera strap cover to the right side. For this step I had to use a turning tool. If you do not have one, you can use a chop stick or an unsharpened pencil...something that will help you to push the fabric. This step may take a little while depending on the width of your strap cover. The more narrow the cover, the harder it is to turn right side out.

Now that you have your camera strap cover finished and turned out, press it again with the iron to get a crisp edge. Take your time putting it on the camera strap. It may be necessary for you to fold over the leather part of the camera strap which attaches the actual strap to the smaller piece that attaches to your camera. The strap will be longer than your actual camera strap. This is what gives the gathered effect once you get it on your strap.

This is what your finished strap cover will look like. Now attach your camera and you are ready to go.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, I will be happy to assist you with anything you may have trouble with.

DIY - Chalkboard

Hi everyone. This is my very first tutorial, EVER!! I am excited...can ya tell? LOL. I have been trying to figure out what to do for a tutorial for a while now and finally decided to do a tutorial using chalkboard fabric...that's right, I said chalkboard fabric. I had no idea this stuff existed until a little while back. Ok, so lets get started. First, you will need an old picture frame. Any frame will do. I chose this frame because it is gross looking and will allow for me to spray paint it at a later time. If you happen to run across a frame that has no glass, it will be perfect for this project.

Ok, after you choose your frame, you can leave it as is, or you may decide to glam it up a little. I chose to spray paint mine. I used Metallic Silver to spray mine with because I had some laying around the house from a previous project. Now it's time for the chalkboard fabric. This can be purchased online. It comes on a huge roll so there will be plenty for future projects. All you do is trace out the inside of the frame and add about an inch to all four sides. this will allow plenty of extra room for finishing the back of the frame.

Chalkboard fabric is great. It is very durable. Now, you will need to get the fabric ready for using it. To cure the fabric, you will need to take a piece of chalk and lay it flat. You will rub the entire surface of the fabric with the chalk.

When you are done, you can wipe off the excess chalk.

Now we are ready to glue the fabric to the backing that came with the frame. If there was no backing with it, have no fear, we can make one quite easily. To do this, take a, old piece of cardboard, lay the frame down, trace the inside of the frame and cut it out. This will work just fine for the backing on this project.

Ok, so here is where it got tricky for me. I used E-6000 and a sponge brush to adhere the fabric to the frame backing. For future reference, I will say this. E-6000 is very thick. I would probably use a fabric glue the next time because the E-6000 didn't spread very well. For this project, you will need to adhere the entire piece of fabric to the backing. This is very important because if you don't, there will be bubbles in the fabric which will be noticable. Simply apply the glue and spread it over the entire piece of fabric.

When you are done applying the glue, lay the backing, evenly centered, over the piece of fabric. Be sure to press it on there good to create an even seal. Now take the edges and wrap them tightly to the back of the frame. To get the corners to lay flat, simply cut off the flap and make sure to lay the pieces flat on the backing. If you see you need more glue, apply now. Do this for all four corners.

It is super important that you let the glue completely dry before moving to the next step. It is also important that you let it dry while laying on a flat surface. This will help ensure you have no air bubbles in the fabric.

When the glue is dry, take the chalkboard piece and put it in the frame. Fold down the edging that holds the piece in place and you are ready to use your new chalkboard. This is great for leaving messages for the family, letting the kiddos write out their math homework problems, or just let them draw on it when they are bored. =)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, please let me know, or if you have suggestions on how to improve the project, I would love to hear them too. Have a great day, and God Bless!!!!