Packing for Portland, with an Easy-Peasy Flat-Iron Case Project

Friday I leave for the Asheville airport, make a stop in Atlanta, then fly to Portland for three days at the Modern Quilt Guild SewDown in The Nines Hotel. BERNINA of America is a Modern Quilt Guild (MQG) sponsor and is providing all the sewing machines at the hotel for this event – thirty-five 350 PE and thirty-five 750 QE machines. The hands-on classes include Improv Round Robin with Sherri Lynn Wood, Modern Strip Piecing with Heather Jones, a Modern Traditionalist Mini with Lee Heinrich, and Sidekick Sampler Workshop with Julie Herman; plus lectures with Violet Craft, Valori Wells, and Bill Volckening. I can’t wait!

Of course, having two rooms of machines and a booth means having someone (or, in this case, several someones) from BERNINA at the show, along with staff from Modern Domestic, the local BERNINA shop. I’ll be there to chat with people, peek in at classes, drink lots of great coffee, (did I mention chatting with people?), help out at the evening free-sew classrooms, and post about the event on Facebook and WeAllSew. I know – it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it 😉 I’ll be joined by Amy Guiterrez, Gayle Schliemann, and Sylvain Bergeron. If you’re at the SewDown, be sure to say “Hi!”

This will be my first trip to Portland – first trip to Oregon, for that matter – and I’m gathering everything I need to pack in my suitcase. My favorite umbrella is at the top of the list! Another must-have item for wet weather is my flat-iron. I’ve been letting my hair grow, and while it’s basically straight/wavy, when it gets humid there are a few pieces – and ONLY a few – that get really curly. Like… there’s this one little corkscrew right in the middle of my forehead. So add my baby flat-iron to the must-have list. But how to pack it? Which leads me to…

How to Make a Flat-Iron Case in a Hurry

Some of you may be like me, with quilted projects you’ve haven’t finished or don’t use. Years ago I made one of those cut-apart-a-sweatshirt, put-some-patchwork-on-top, quilt-it, then-piece-it-back- together jackets. But I never wear it: I’ve lost weight and it’s much too big, but I love the patchwork and can’t bear to give it away. This was a perfect opportunity to recycle part of it into something I’d use and enjoy.

First I cut off one of the sleeves along the armscye. Then I cut a piece about 8″ x 9″ from the bottom of the sleeve, with the sleeve hem/binding along one edge. (That’s one of the my favorite things about this project – no edges to finish!)

I folded it in half, serged across the end and along the side, turned it right side out, and voila! A pretty little case for my flat-iron. It’s not very insulated, so I don’t plan to use it for stowing a still-warm flat-iron, but it’s much better option than just tossing it in my suitcase.

You could use almost anything to make a case like this. Anything with a finished edge on one side will do – a corner of your favorite worn-out quilt, the bottom of a pair of jeans-turned-cutoffs, a shrunk-in-the-dryer sweater. And of course you can use a sewing machine instead of a serger. Just be sure to zigzag or overlock the edges if they’re ravelly. Your case/sleeve could be smaller or larger, depending on what’s going inside. In fact… I’m pretty sure the back of this jacket will be turning into a tablet sleeve in the quite near future. (I’m pretty sure I’ll be the only person at SewDown with matching patchwork flat-iron and tablet sleeves.)

Tip: Curious about my green cord tamer? It’s just 2″ of hook-and-loop tape! Offset the hook tape from the loop tape about 1/2″, then wrap and fasten.

Send photos if you make an upcycled/rescued sleeve – I’d love to see what you recycle and what you turn it into!

Now… what else do I need to pack for my trip to Portland? Any suggestions? Thanks! Jo