It’s Day 5 of the Pascal Sew Along and we are finishing our cases!
Today mostly involves sewing on binding. Here are a few notes:
The first step for today is to attach the Short Edge Binding. As you’re sewing this (and the Final Binding) on, make sure to check on the Hardware and zipper pull to verify that they are out of the way of the sewing machine needle! It can be easy to lose track of where those metal pieces are and if they get under the presser foot, you’ll end up with a broken needle.
After the Short Edge Binding is attached, follow the instructions to fold that edge up towards the Zipper Pocket. If you’re wanting to adjust the height of the case at all, this is a great place to easily make it slightly taller or shorter! For example, if you have a laptop that is just a little bigger than the height of one of the case sizes given, you can make the fold a little larger (just don’t let the Short Edge Binding cover the Zipper Pocket). Likewise, you can make the fold smaller to decrease the height of the finished case. This only works for small adjustments, but it’s nice to know that you can easily alter the size in small increments this way.
If you’ve ever sewn binding on a quilt, the Final Binding will feel very familiar! I like to first sew the Final Binding to the inside of the case, then trim any excess binding length about 1/2″-1″ past the bottom edges (see photo below). This gives enough overhang length to tuck the end of the binding in to hide all raw edges.
For the Small size Pascal Case, the Final Binding should be just long enough to fit around the three sides of the case. If you find that you’re a little short on binding (or if you’re using a fat quarter or scrap piece of fabric instead of yardage), you can piece an extra binding strip on to make sure you have a long enough Final Binding strip.
For the Pascal Carrying Case, I like to finish the second side of the Final Binding by machine, but you can hand sew the Binding on instead (just like you would with a quilt binding). Sometimes when I’m sewing through the area where the Binding goes over the webbing, my machine will skip a couple stitches here and there. If this is happening to you, you can either try turning the handwheel through the bulky areas instead of using the foot pedal, or decrease the presser foot pressure. If your machine still struggles, sometimes it’s worth the extra effort to finish the binding by hand to make sure it looks nice.
That’s it for today and the entire sew along!You can find the Day 5 video to Instagram HERE and Facebook HERE.
These sew along blog posts and accompanying videos will stay here if you’d like to refer to them later.
Links for products from the sew along:
Juki TL2000 Sewing Machine
Clover Wonder Clips
Organ 90/14 needles
Bulk poly webbing in 1″ and 1.5″ options (I like to have these on hand to cover with fabric)
Cotton webbing from Stitch Supply Co
Hardware Options: By Annie (the silver shown here), Stitch Supply Co (they have a lot of fun colors!), and Amazon (varying metal finishes in both 1″ and 1.5″)
Zipper by the yard used in this Pascal Case I’ve purchased this brand many times and they are a great quality and price! The zipper teeth look metal, but are plastic.
Tube Turner (shown in my video for turning the Strap right side out)
Odif 505 basting spray
Hera Marker
OLFA rotary cutter
OLFA 6″ x 24″ ruler
Thanks for sewing along!
-Kristina