Man Sewing: Cell Phone Plop to Prop 8:23
Some of my best ideas literally fall out of the sky. Oh look at that, it’s a cell phone
plop. Won’t that make a great project. Let’s get started.
I love technology. Therefore I like to integrate it into my sewing room constantly like right
here you’re all watching me out there on YouTube so obviously you love it too. So yes
the Cell Phone Plop is a fantastic little device that you can use to keep your phone
or your tablet or whatever next to you wherever you’re at. Now this is kind of funny though.
Here is my original little Plop. And you’ll notice that she’s pretty firm, right? So
I used a suede fabric for this but it didn’t have as much flexibility. So she’s not the
best cell phone holder. So any rate we’re using the Crossroads Denim today. It’s a
wonderful very nice pliable but strong denim. It’s from Indygo Junction. It comes in a
variety of wonderful colors. And it really gives the wonderful amount of plop and texture
we need so we can just drop our devices. Whoops, we can just drop our devices in however we
like and have fun with it, ok?
So we’re just going to do like yay with the Crossroads but when you’re using your
Crossroads Denim there is a bit of texture to it. So I like the real textured sides to
be my right sides. So I have both of my right sides together before I go ahead and cut out
my shape. But you’re saying, Rob what shape are you going to use. And in the description
below we’ve got a link for our free printables. And here’s the shape you’re going to use.
I need you to cut out two of them. And by laying your fabrics right sides together like
this you actually are cutting them both out so that they’re facing opposites so you
are ready to go right from your cutting to your sewing machine, ok?
We’re going to leave this opening when we sew. So those teeth right there are going
to kind of keep our sewing intact. And so what I want to do is I want to go ahead and
make a nice easy little cut. And you can do this with scissors. You can do this with a
small rotary cutter, whatever you like. And you could pin your pattern in place if you
needed but you’re cutting both layers at once so if for any reason it wasn’t perfect,
it’s ok because they are both the same size, right? This is a little heavier fabric for
the small blades on these cutters like this but it still works very nice. Here. Ok we’re
just going to finish this out real quick for you. And head on over to the machine. Now
while I’m finishing the whittle, I can even just move this out of the way, there we go,
nice and easy. I really should have pinned my pattern in place. I was just trying to
go a little fast for you. And when I don’t pin my patterns in place things shift. So
take a moment and pin it down. You don’t have to go as fast as I am. You have more
than a few minutes to do this in. Ok we’re going to cut this section out. That’s going
to be our opening that we are going to leave for turning right sides out and filling up
our plop. So let’s move this stuff out of the way and head on over to the sewing machine.
Now because we’re making more of an industrial style tool we’re using polyester thread
in the machine for the top and the bottom. And I do have my little edge guide on that’s
going to help me keep my quarter inch seam allowance. It makes life easy. And let me
just point out here real quick, I am going to start my sewing on the outside of the tooth,
go all the way around and finish on the outside of the tooth here, ok? So you’re going to
want to backstitch so that when you tug on that it doesn’t burst open. And then we’re
just going to go around real easy by keeping both layers of that fabric up against that
edge guide. I’ve got a little extra pressure on the outside fingers here that helps those
curves. See how easy that works. And sewing through this wonderful lightweight denim is
a dream. And then I come around tight on that corner, backstitch. I went a little past the
tooth, no big deal. We have plenty of room to work. So we’re just going to cut that
thread there.
And then for this it’s very simple, I’m going to go ahead and poke in there and start
turning my right sides out. I will fill this with the crushed walnut shells. And for this
size plop I have found that 2 ½ cups of walnut shells are perfect. Of course it’s not necessarily
a washable project. So you could use poly pellets. But you want something that’s going
to be heavy. You don’t want to use just batting. It won’t give you enough security
to hold it in place. And then I want to show you, you probably saw me using one of my new
rotary cutters that I just love. The other part of this tool that works so nicely is
the back end. Of course over your blade with your cap. The back end works as a point turner
or a hera marker. So I am going to take a moment and smooth out those seams all the
way around the inside like this, ok? So that’s ready, ready to go here. You will hand stitch
that after it’s all filled up. Nice and easy opening. Then I actually just took an
old piece of my mylar template making plastic, rolled it up and taped it. It makes a fantastic
funnel. And I’ve already pre measured my 2 ½ cups of walnut shells for us. And we
will see how this goes. So I’m just going to slowly pour in what I need. I actually
usually work out of a little measuring cup scooper. But I love the mylar because the
walnut shells slide in nice. And then once it starts to slow down you can just kind of
shake it like this and the gravity will start to fill that up. So that’s real simple.
Fill it all up with your 2 ½ cups of walnut shells. Hand stitch it closed with that same
polyester thread. And you’re all set.
However as I mentioned, not all cell phone devices are created equal. So I wanted to
play with an additional style plop. I’m not going to sew you all the way through it
but I want to show you how you can make a slightly larger version. Ok, this was something
else I was working on in the last moments of getting prepared for today’s tutorial.
And I really like this for those little bit larger devices, maybe a smaller tablet, something
like that. So it’s the exact same size walls from your free printable but I’ve also added
in here a 1 ½ inch strip by about 24 ½ inches, just to separate it and give me a little more
girth. And now this is filled with three cups of the crushed walnuts not the 2 ½ cups.
So here’s how you’ll build it if you choose. You will have your two pieces cut out. You’ll
have your strips. The easiest thing to do is to start by sewing the strip to one of
the walls. And I literally did start right on, let me see if I can hold it still for
you. I started right on that tooth like I said. Then I stitched all the way back around
and up to that same mark, right? What’s going to happen is I’m going to be able
to leave this opening in here. And I’m going to leave a little bit of an extra opening
because it got a little cramped when I was trying to turn it right sides out. Remember
experience is our best teacher. So in order to set up the second side I’m going to align
my teeth. I’m going to pull this back. And I’m going to go right here where that one
was folded over. That’s where it starts on that tooth. Very easy. I”m going to pinch
here and go to the sewing machine. And then I’ll just stitch all the way around. And
I will do just the same. Turn it right sides out and fill it. But I’ll have to hand stitch
a little bit along this edge. And then I’ll have to hand stitch that opening because it’s
a little bit extra fabric a little bit harder to turn out, right?
But like I said, I wanted you to have a fantastic variety of all kinds of different ways to
prop up your favorite technology devices so that you never have to be without me right
here at Man Sewing.