How To Sew A Simple Kindle Paperwhite Case

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January 1st I set my goal for Swagbucks and Bing Rewards at earning enough Amazon cards by March 1st to pay for a Kindle Paperwhite. Why March 1st? Well I wanted it to arrive in time for my 40th birthday.

I ended up surpassing my goal by one week, and instead of waiting for my birthday to open it, I opened my Kindle Paperwhite  the day it arrived and fell immediately in love. It is so much lighter than the family iPad. The screen is amazing, it really does make the words look like they are printed on real paper. There is no screen glare.

I also love that because it is a simple eReader there are no other apps to get distracted by. I can’t pop over to Instagram, Email or Facebook whenever a status update scrolls across the top of the screen, because, there isn’t anyway they can.

Another great feature is that because it is so small and light it is perfect to pop in your purse or gym bag to read whenever, which created a problem. I needed a case for it, since I didn’t want to have the screen scratched by whatever else might be floating in my purse.

I  looked on Amazon for a kindle paperwhite case and although their leather cases look amazing $25+ dollars was more than I wanted to spend. I looked at Big Lots during their last 20% off sale, and had no luck.

Not wanting to wait much longer I decided I would try to make my own. I had an idea in my head of how to make a simple sleeve style case, with a fold over top and button with loop (so I could avoid making a button hole, one of my non favorite sewing tasks).

I dug into my yard sale purchased fabric  stash and found this beautiful piece of colorful material. I dug into my button collection and found a button that would coordinate. I dug into my hair elastics and found a thinner  one (you can use the round elastic that you can buy by the yard at the fabric store, but I just didn’t feel like going out and a hair elastic worked great).

Here is how I made my simple Kindle Paperwhite case

To decide how big I needed to cut the pieces I laid the kindle paperwhite down on the fabric, lining it up along the fold of the fabric. I then used the cutting mat and yard stick to decide where I would cut the fabric. In the end I left 2 inches at the top and half an inch at the bottom, meaning I cut the fabric to 10 inches in length. (please see my note at the bottom about what I would do differently next time before you cut)

To decide on the width of the fabric I placed the Kindle Paperwhite on the material and cut the fabric one inch wider. Meaning I cut a total width of 6 inches.

I cut another piece the same size (10 inches long by 6 inches wide).

With fabric turned inside out it is time to go to the sewing machine. I love my Janome new home (my model is an older one but here are their current ones)  It sews like a dream. Sewing up the sides and bottom of both the pieces took no time at all. I sewed the seams with the edge of the fabric being along the edge of the sewing machine foot.

After I sewed up the sides and bottom I then went around the seams using a zig zag stitch, not totally necessary but in my opinion it gives more strength so seams. I also clipped the corner a bit when I was done so that I would end up with less bulk.

Next I folded down the tops  of each sack about a 1/4 inch. I used an iron or this just because it stayed in place better that way.

I matched  the bottom of the  two sacks seam to seam. Once this is done I  simply pulled one on top of the other so that wrong sides are facing each other and right side are facing out.

Getting the elastic in just right is the most tricky part of this project. I had to do it twice so don’t get discouraged if you have to redo yours as well.  I measured half way in minus about 1/4 inch on both sides of the bag and pinned the elastic in so that half of it was in the bag and half of it was outside the bag. I thought of this afterwards but you could also simple cut the elastic in half so that you could get two of these bags out of one hair elastic.

Finally I sewed the top of the bag as close to the edge as I could get using a small stitch width, I used a 2 on my Janome New Home. I also used a stitch that had a bit of zig in it, just because I liked the effect, but you don’t have too. I sewed right over the pins so that the elastic did not have any chance to wiggle out of place, which is another reason I am in love with my Janome it is powerful enough to allow pins to glide under the sewing foot.

To place the button put your Kindle Paper White (or whatever device you are making this case for ) inside the sleeve and then fold the top down and place the button where the center of the elastic loop falls. To make sure the button is centered correctly measure it and place the center of the button in the center of the case.

Next I sewed on the button and then it was done.

What I would do differently next time:Although I am super pleased with how my case turned out and have gotten several compliments on it I would change one thing if I make another one. I think I would add at least an additional 2 inches to the length of the case making it 12 inches long by 6 inches wide, simply because I think it would make the top fold over more neatly. This however would not make the case any more effective than it already is, it works great and looks great just as it is. I am just a fan of corners lying flat and a longer flap would make them do that.

I love my Kindle Paperwhite. It makes reading free and low-cost ebooks enjoyable. Easy to use, easy to store, easy on the eyes and easy on the hands.