Pretty Little {EASY} Camera Straps

For my first one, it turned out pretty nicely. I didn’t take lots of pictures while making it- I figured there are tons of tutorials for these out in blogland, but here’s the basic steps if you’re interested in making your own:

1. Measure the length and width of your camera strap.

2. Add 1.5 inches to the length. This is how long you will cut the strips.

3. Add 3/4 inches to the width measurement. This is how wide you will cut the strips.

4. Cut two strips of fabric using the above measurements. They can be the same or coordinating. Cut one piece of batting (for extra padding) using the same measurements.

5. If you want just a plain camera strap, then stop here and skip to step ?. If you want a cute ruffle (of course you do!), then cut a strip of fabric DOUBLE the length measurement and the same width measurement.

6. If you have a serger, this is your lucky day. Serge down the unfinished edges of the ruffle piece to finish them. If you do not have a serger, you’ll have to zigzag stitch or create a hem.

7. Sew with a long stitch down the center of the ruffle. DO NOT backstitch on either end. Use the bobbin thread to pull the ruffle piece into a gather, making it as short as the camera strap fabric pieces.

8. Pin the ruffle down the front of one of the camera strap pieces. Sew on both sides of the basting stitch to secure the ruffle to the fabric.

9. Embellish down the ruffle by sewing ribbon down the center, if desired. If not, use a seam ripper to pull out the basting stitch.

10. VERY IMPORTANT: Pin the ruffle towards the center. In order to keep it loose, you do not want to sew the edges up in the seam, so you’ll need to pin them out of the way.

11. I am notorious for attempting shortcuts in sewing. Here’s one of them- Pin the batting to the wrong side of the fabric piece that does NOT have the ruffle.

12. At this point I went ahead and folded the short ends of all the pieces by 3/4 inches and sewed them in place to create a hem. There are several other ways to do this, as well.

12. Pin the right sides of both camera strap pieces together and sew a 1/4 seam down the sides, backstitching at the beginning and end. Turn and remove ruffle pins.

13. Done! The hard part is getting the strap on and off the camera. 🙁

After I made mine, I wanted some ideas on a few different spins on the camera strap, and I came across so many great tutorials! I did run across one from The Cottage Home– her tutorial was a lot like my ruffle strap, except she sewed the ruffle into the seam (why didn’t I think of that??) and used fleece. I made two for a few friends trying out her ideas- Here are the photos for those!

Linking to these parties.