[How I made] The toilet paper roll wears quilted outerwear. (Toilet Paper Roll Case)

I'm itching to make something....

 

There comes a time on a regular basis when my fingers get itchy eager to start making some small items that are pretty for my eyes (only) by putting small pieces of fabric together. I lined  up a variety of small pieces of fabric on my sewing table, matching this way and that way, until I finally chose the ones to be appliqued as a house, tree and bushes. After cutting those tiny pieces, I soak them or spray them heavily enough to make them completely wet,  then I leave them alone on my table getting plenty of sunlight to dry. Leaving them folded along the seam line make it vey easy to work on when attaching them on the main fabric. So I can skip the ironing process. I also made sure the main fabric and lining soaked and dried in advance as well before measuring considering their fate to shrink. Just imagine if you find out they became smaller only in the end!

Flexible quilting hour plan.

In the middle of taking care of other chores at home, whenever I have a short free time in between, I come back to table and start connecting pieces at a time. I do it little by little whenever I can with a cup of coffee. Well, in fact I wonder why time passes twice or even three times faster when I'm playing with fabric. If I don't pay attention to times passing, I can easily lose the track of time completely. I totally understand why the youngsters end up spending whole day in front of computer games. I need to control. I'm fabricholic..a serious condition, I guess...

The toilet paper roll wears outerwear.

I saw a toilet paper roll in the guest bathroom and it looked somehow a bit cold to me for some reason, so I decided to give it something to put on. It's very simple to make. I measured the size of toilet paper and used it as a pattern. If it's too big, the toilet paper roll may become wobbly inside the case, and if too small, the roll wouldn't fit in. I checked the size of the largest roll I usually use and gave an extra  1 or 2 cms then plus seams. We need a hole in the middle with the 4~5cm diameter for the tissues to come through. We get rid of cardboard tube at the center so the paper gets loose. When finished, the size came as width of 13cm and height 10cm more or less. Again, it's not rocket science...

1. Lid part. aka donut ring.

I chose a fabric with not loud color for main fabric and most cost-effective 100% cotton plain white cotton fabric from IKEA as the lining. Placing them with the right sides facing together, I lay them down on top of thick battings. 

    

 

 

There should be a hole in the center to pull out tissue paper to use. If you make it too small, it will give you a hard time later (when turning it over). After sewing a circle in the center, cut our battings as closely to the seam line as possible, and snip the fabric into triangle shape to prevent it from becoming bulk. This is to make it look natural when the top layer fabric is pulled out through that hole. Also, it is best to cut the battings along the seam line in advance.

           

It's pulled out and now it's the time to flip the donut ring. Actually, I made this case some time ago, there are no detailed photos of this flipping part, so I improvised it and tried it again for explanation purposes. 

[Mission : Flip the Donut Ring!]

Not sure if I can explain simply enough but let me give it a try. 

Imagine dividing the donut into 2 halves. Try folding up the bottom part by about 1/3. The pin in the the photo is just for photo. I needed pin them down to keep them sit still. No need it in real.

Then, bring the two fabrics of upper half together, as if wrapping this folded part with the upper donut half. The right sides meet together.  

Holding the top two fabrics facing right side together, sew along the seam line. You will struggle a bit because you have to fight with these guys in the middle and have to pull the fabric to sew. When it gets to the point where it can no longer be pulled, you can give up because we need to leave some space to flip it over anyway. 

The battings of the upper part looks like it's left alone for now.

After turning it over and closing the opening window, spray water to shape it out or iron it. I did some quilting just simply along the circle line. When quilted enough, it's not only pretty but also firm.

2. Let’s make the side part(cylinder).

Prepare the side of the case. The width should be the same with the circumference of the lid but I gave a little extra cm since when appliqued, quilted and embroidered, it might get smaller. After appliqueing my favorite houses and trees, I lay out on top of battings and sew quilting line around the appliqued objects just to briefly attach them to battings. It's because I wanted to give 3 dimensional effect to trees and bushes, for that I need to slit open the batting, inserts some fine cottons and sew them closed. Then, putting the right side of lining on top of quilted top, sew around except opening window. Turn it over and shape it out then, I embroidered the tree trunks and shrub branches to bring them to life.

Feel free to do some extra quilting after embroidering, if you'd like.

3. Now, time to join the lid and cylinder. 

All that remains is ardent ladder(=blind)stitches to combine them. First, connect the lid along the cylinder as in photo. This is to avoid the lid circumference fall short than the sides. Connect and close the remaining side. 

Lastly, attach 2 strings of a rubber bands across so that the roll doesn't escape Get rid of cardboard tube in the middle of the roll and put it inside the case. Pull some tissues out. Now it's ready to use.

            

Little by little, whenever I can. Quilting is healing for me.