If you have ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes with the CKC staff, I can tell you right now that it's not all about patterns and release dates. The majority is business of course, but we also spend a good deal of time joking about important stuff... like chicken shawls and off-the-wall keychains. I'm not going to tell you how the keychain joke started but I will say that everyone blames ME and it wasn't me at all. They probably do owe me about a hundred keychains by now -- they keep saying they're going to send wacky ones to me but they don't really mean it. I'm a little grouchy about that. Anyway, I think it's perfectly fitting that Morgan chose to do this Fabric Key Fob as our free tutorial this week! Now you and I can both make these cute keychains and be matchers together!
Time to get down to business. Here's Morgan:
To start you will need a scrap of fabric this 4" x 12" and a 1" D-ring. In the photos below I used a recycled keychain. If you choose to go the same route, make sure the width is 1".
First we will take our fabric, fold it in half length wise, and iron so we have a nice crease. Open the strip back up so the crease is going down the center. Now we will fold both of the long sides in so that they meet at the crease in the center, and iron. Once ironed, fold it in half again lengthwise like we did in the beginning. The original center crease we made will be along the bottom and the two folds will be lined up at the top, like a bias tape as shown below. Do not sew the edges.
Now slide our D-ring or in my case recycled keychain hardware, to the center of the strip as shown below.
On each end of our fabric we will now unfold the edges and line the two ends up right sides together. Pin and sew, creating one continuous loop.
Fold the fabric back into place and then top stitch 1/8" in from the edge along both sides, moving the D-ring/hardware out of our way as we go.
Now take the D-ring and fold the lanyard strip flat around it, as shown in the picture below. Sew across the strip 1/2" from the D-ring.
And you're done! It's that simple. Thanks Morgan!
Now we can use our favorite fabric scraps to make a unique key fob for ourselves, and maybe even our friends.
Speaking of which, my daughter just walked in and saw the picture and now she wants one for her backpack, made out of the My Little Pony scraps. Why not -- key chains make everybody happy, right ladies?
Let's Create! ~ Kristen
