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Reversible Sewing Machine Cover

  • July 10, 2011
  • Lindsay
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You sewing machine does so much for you. Why not give it a little present?

I made a reversible sewing machine cover in some of my favorite fabrics, including Japanese Echino (the bicycles print) and Momo’s Wonderland (the scissors print), plus some Kona solids. The front incorporates improvisation piecing, and the back is a bold plus-sign design. This is an intermediate to advanced sewing project which incorporates techniques such as machine quilting and working with fusible fleece and bias tape.

Want to make a little jacket for your sewing machine?

100_6505

Supplies:

  • Fabric Scraps
  • Fusible Fleece (1 yard, or 30 inches if you’re buying from the bolt). You can also use regular quilt batting, but you’ll need more pins to hold it in place.
  • Rotary Cutter, mat and ruler
  • 1 package of Extra-Wide Bias Tape (3 yards) or make your own bias tape
  • Matching Thread
  • Sewing Machine
  • Iron
  • Sewing pins

Choose coordinating fabrics. You’ll want a couple pieces that are a quarter-yard or a little larger, and some scraps to liven up the design.

100_6439

For the plus-sign design, cut your pieces as follows:

Fabric A (off-white): 10 (3.5″ x 3.5″), 8 (6.5″ x 3.5″), 4 (9.5″ x 3.5″)
Fabric B (bicycles print): 2 (9.5″ x 3.5″), 4 (3.5″ x 3.5″)
Fabric C (scissors print): 2 (9.5″ x 3.5″), 4 (3.5″ x 3.5″)
Fabric D (purple): 1 (9.5″ x 3.5″), 2 (3.5″ x 3.5″)

100_6439 100_6440

Arrange your pieces with the purple plus-sign in the middle, and the other plus-signs to each corner. Fill in the blank spots with solid white.

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Start sewing together each long row on your machine. Once the rows are joined, pin together and sew each row side by side, starting at the center (purple plus-sign). Trim your edges.

100_6444 100_6451

Your finished block should look like this.

100_6455

You’ve finished one side! Now on to the other side, which uses a technique of improvisational piecing.

Start piecing a few blocks together, and machine stitch right sides together along one edge. Use your rotary cutter to trim off rough edges, and add another piece. It’s okay to make diagonal cuts, which increases the wonkiness of the design. (Here, I pieced the scissors and purple prints, then added the white to one edge before trimming.

100_6456

Next, I added a large green block. Then I added white along an entire side and trimmed.

100_6457

Keep adding pieces until your block is the same size (or a little larger) than the plus-sign piece.

100_6458

To make the design more interesting, you can slice right through some of the blocks you’ve sewn together. Add in a strip of another color (I chose purple), stitch along both sides, and trim edges.

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Eventually, you’ll end up with something like this:

100_6466

Test it out on your sewing machine and see how it fits. (When you quilt the layers together, it will naturally “shrink” just a bit, so start out with a piece that’s a few inches longer than the machine.)

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Here are both pieces after I trimmed the edges to make them the same size.

100_6468

Next, you’ll want to cut a piece of fusible fleece to the size of one patchwork rectangle. Follow the manufacturer’s directions to iron on the fleece to the back (wrong) side of the plus-sign piece, making sure no stray threads are sandwiched between the layers (these may be visible through the white on the finished product if you leave them in). Repeat with the improv pieces side.

100_6469

Once you’ve iron the fleece to both patchwork pieces (wrong sides), stack the two pieces with fleece sides together, like this. Trim sides to match.

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Pin together the two sides and begin to machine quilt long, straight lines down the seams of the plus-sign side.

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This is what the quilted cover looks like now. Next, you’ll add bias tape to finish the edges. Make sure you buy the extra wide, double fold type.

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Begin to pin the bias tape to edges of cover, sandwiching all raw edges inside bias tape.

100_6475

I rounded the corners of my cover by using a drinking glass and my rotary cutter. Machine stitch the binding around the edges. I used my fingers to hold the bias tape taut, and didn’t rely solely on the pins to hold it in place. This is especially true around the corners, where you’ll want to stitch slowly.

100_6476

When you get to the end, fold under one edge of the bias tape, and hold tightly to sew a smooth finished edge. Turn the project and sew a perpendicular stitch to fasten down the flap all the way to the edge.

100_6478

Next, you’ll want to make the ties. With the remaining bias tape (several inches), open and cut in half length-wise, then cut both in half width-wise. You should now have four pieces of the same length.

100_6482 100_6483
Sew a wide zig-sag stitch on these single-folded ties to keep them from unraveling.

Place the cover on your sewing machine, and mark the strap placement with pins. Fold under the edge and sew ties in place with a forward and backward stitch.

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You’re done! Here’s the plus-sign design facing out.

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Here’s the back of the improv pieced side. I like how the detail in white looks like a mod sewing machine.

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Here’s the front of the improv pieced side. This is my favorite overall look, and yours can be totally personalized and unique if you follow my basic steps of improv piecing detailed above.

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Side view:
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The great thing about this sewing machine cover is that you can change the look with your mood. Simply slip off the cover and fold it inside-out!

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If you use this tutorial, please share a link to your project in the comments or add to our Flickr group. We’d love to see it!

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Related Topics
  • improv piecing tutorial
  • make sewing machine cover
  • patchwork sewing machine cover
  • pattern for sewing machine cover
  • plus sign quilt
  • quilted sewing machine cover
  • reversible sewing machine cover
  • sewing machine cover
  • sewing machine cover pattern
  • sewing machine cover patterns
  • sewing machine cover tutorial
  • sewing machine dust cover
Lindsay

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22 comments
  1. Kristy - Hopeful Threads says:
    July 11, 2011 at 11:51 am

    That is so attractive! I really need to make one for my machine and serger!

    Reply
  2. K*D Quilts says:
    July 11, 2011 at 11:56 am

    Love this! Making a sewing machine cover has been on my to-do list for a while! This might just be the motivation I needed!

    Reply
  3. Ruth says:
    July 11, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    I’ve wanted to make a machine cover for a long time now. Perhaps your tutorial can give me that ‘kick’ I need to actually do it!

    Reply
  4. Sarah "Finding Charm" says:
    July 11, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    What a cute sewing machine cover. I don’t own one, but I’d want this if I did ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  5. Jamie (@va_grown) says:
    July 11, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    Very cute! And your tutorial directions are great! Makes me feel inspired…

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. spontaneousthreads says:
    July 11, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    I love that it is reversible. Great tutorial!!

    Reply
  7. Erin says:
    July 11, 2011 at 6:45 pm

    You’re so talented! That is one stylish sewing machine cover. Very straight-forward tutorial too!!

    Reply
  8. M-R says:
    July 11, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    I love, love, love your machine cover! I’ve been wanting to make one for a while and the fact that you also included a tutorial just made my day. Thanks!

    Reply
  9. Jill says:
    July 11, 2011 at 7:46 pm

    This cover is fantastic! I love the colours you chose – and so nice that it’s reversible!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  10. Kirsten N says:
    July 11, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    This is great – my machine sits on the table near the kitchen so it would be nice to have a special cover for it !! Love the fabrics you have used.

    Reply
  11. Kristen says:
    July 11, 2011 at 11:49 pm

    Oh this is so neat! Love it!

    Reply
  12. Evelene Sterling says:
    July 12, 2011 at 2:46 am

    I needed this tute. Thanks so much!

    Reply
  13. Lydia says:
    July 12, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    This is awesome! Now I only need a sewing machine ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  14. Nin-Carol says:
    July 12, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    So cute – and simply with ribbon on the sides. I could do this!

    Stopping by from Fabric Tuesday. My link is http://carolburris.com/knitting/rainy-days-projects-finished/

    Reply
  15. LisaAnn says:
    July 12, 2011 at 2:29 pm

    That is very nice! I love the idea of making it reversible.

    Reply
  16. Kimberlee says:
    July 12, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    Love your cover! How fun is that?!?! My machine is in a cabinet and doesn’t need a cover right now… but hopefully that will be changing in the next year. Keeping this tutorial in mind for the future.
    ~Kimberlee, http://www.thespunkydiva.com

    Reply
  17. Lorie says:
    July 16, 2011 at 12:41 pm

    I need one of these! Much cuter than the plastic/vinyl cover I have now!!

    Reply
  18. Rebecca @ My Girlish Whims says:
    July 17, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Very cute! I’ve registered for a sewing machine for my wedding… I must learn how to sew with it so I can make it a cover, haha ๐Ÿ™‚

    Thanks for linking up to Your Whims Wednesday!

    Reply
  19. Katie from Sew Woodsy says:
    July 20, 2011 at 9:01 am

    Great job on the sewing machine cover! Thank you for linking up last week at Sew Woodsy. We hope you’ll join us again this week!

    Reply
  20. Jen says:
    July 22, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    This is great! I could really use something like this for mine to keep the dust out. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  21. Amber @ Quilted Euphoria says:
    July 22, 2011 at 8:35 pm

    I stumbled across this from your linkup on HIH. I LOVE this idea, and what a great way to use up scraps! I am going to have to do this myself one of these days!

    Amber

    Reply
  22. Linda says:
    July 28, 2011 at 11:14 am

    Hi I Really Like your great tutorials!!!

    I Link to you on my Blog,

    http://paneamoreecreativita.it/blog/2011/07/raccolta-di-progetti-di-cucito-creativo-per-lestate

    Thanks for sharing ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply

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