I found this great tutorial on how to turn a purse into a camera bag, and it inspired me. Rather than commit an entire bag to my camera, why not take this concept and create my own case for my camera, which I can then throw into whatever bag I'm carrying about with me?
So I went to Hancock Fabrics, where I bought a square of eco-green foam and four squares of fabric scraps. Then Erica came over, and we had a craft night where she edited photos from an engagement shoot and I put my camera bag together. Also, she brought her sewing machine over for me, which cut back on time immensely. Plan A was hand-sewing.
I should have documented the steps, but I didn't. If you want to know how I made my bag, use the tutorial linked above for steps, and augment it with the following information:
Obviously, I had to iron the fabric first. Got to get all of the kinks out of the fabric so it will look pretty. Washing it first will help, but I was trying to do laundry so I could get packed for London, so I skipped that and went straight to the ironing.
Next, measure the size of your camera. You're going to create a box for it to fit into, so you need to know its dimensions. I tacked on an extra inch to ensure that it would fit nicely inside. I determined that two sides should be taller than the other two; this is because I decided when I sewed the whole thing together, I would have two pieces on TOP of the bottom piece, and the other two pieces on the SIDES. If you want to sew all four pieces on top, make sure the bottom piece is big enough to still fit the camera.
Once you have the measurements, you can cut individual pieces of foam out that will make up the sides of the box. I chose not to make a lid for my box, so I had five pieces of foam, not six. Next, measure the fabric. Tack on enough fabric to cover the sides of the foam, plus a 1/4" for sewing allowance. The blog tutorial provides great explanation of that. Despite my affectionate feelings towards math and my anal OCD tendencies, I went the eyeballing-is-good-enough route. I measured according to the foam, rather than using a ruler.
I decided that I wanted the inside of my box to be a different fabric than the outside; this was done mainly because I didn't have enough of one fabric to do the entire thing. So with this in mind, I needed more of the outside fabric (to cover the sides of the foam as well as the outside).
Once everything is measured and ready, lay the fabric on top of each other, with the design facing inwards on both pieces. Sew along three sides, leaving the fourth side open. Turn the fabric right-side out, so the seams you just sewed are inside, and squeeze your foam inside. It should be a snug fit, but it will work. The foam is flexible, which helps greatly. Go to the side that is unsewn, and turn the fabric inwards, then hand-sew it closed. Do this for all five pieces of foam.
Once your pieces are put together, you have to sew them all together! This part is the most annoying part of the process. You won't have much structure or sturdiness until you have all of the pieces sewn together, so you have to hold your pieces in place as you work. Just be patient, and it will come together. The above tutorial didn't give the best instructions on this part, so I had to wing it.
I started with the bottom piece. I placed one side piece where it needed to sit, and began sewing the fabric to the fabric. I found I didn't need to sew through the foam; it holds well enough sewing just the fabric, and it's far easier on you to sew it that way. For the sake of having minimal visible seams, I sewed the hand-sewn seam of the side piece to the hand-sewn seam of the bottom piece. This also reinforces the hand-sewn seams. Once that piece was sewn on, I put another side on. Again, I sewed the bottom to the side, then I sewed the sides to each other. Continue in this fashion until all four sides are sewn on, both to the bottom piece and to each adjacent side piece. Ta-da, you have a padded box!
I tested the final product out, and found that my camera fit inside nicely. Due to the shape of the camera, there was a bit of space left next to the lense. I had left over foam and fabric, so I cut a basic rectangle piece of foam, covered it, and can stick it inside the box as a removable divider when I want to throw my little point-and-shoot camera in as well.
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