Phone holder for Granny Great

I haven't been sewing much lately for two reasons -- the first being completely inane and the second completely serious.  First, my friend, Kym, got me hooked on a completely goofy series of books that I have been unable to tear myself from for a couple of weeks now.  Second, Corey's sweet grandpa is in the hospital and it has been a whole family effort to deal with that situation.  In fact, this latest sewing project is an effort in that regard.

Corey's mom asked me to make some sort of a pouch to hold Granny's iPhone (yeah, it's pretty awesome that my children's octogenarian great grandparents own and actively use an iPhone as well as an iPad!) so she could wear it around her neck at all times when she's home alone.  It's meant to be a modern version of the "I've fallen and I can't get up" help button since Grandpa isn't around right now to be a second set of eyes and ears in the event of an emergency.  I tried to sort of wing one on my own and it came out looking like a horror show.  So, this tutorial by Sew4Home caught my eye and I decided to give it a whirl.

The phone slips in from the top, and velcro helps hold it closed.  There's even a little diagonal zipper pocket on the front so you can slip in something like lip balm or tissues.  I was able to use some scraps of home decor fabric and duck cloth for the outside, and some quilting weight cotton for the lining.

The design looks cool at first glance, but I have some fundamental issues with how it was put together. I kind of knew starting out that there was a strong chance I wasn't going to like the finished product, but I forged ahead stubbornly and hoped I would be wrong.  There are two big issues: raw edges on the interior and a junky finish around the top edge.

The top of the case is turned down twice and sewn, but there isn't enough seam allowance left to turn it down twice very well across the bulky side seams.  The rest of the inside is just stitched together and zigzagged over the raw edges.  I thought that since it had a lining, this wouldn't be a problem.  I was wrong.  I am horrified at how it looks when you peek inside.

To make matters worse, the cool pocket on the front is unlined and so you see the wrong side of the lining fabric when you unzip it.  Ick.  There are also raw edges inside where the fabric meets the zipper.  Double ick.

Here is the view from the back.  The twill tape is sewn flush until about halfway up from the bottom, and then it is loose.  The idea is that the pouch could be put on your belt.  I didn't think Granny would do this, but I thought I could give her the option.  It's impossible to make stitching through all those layers of fabric so close to the edge of the fabric look straight, so this looks very Becky Home Ecky.

I was planning on adding a long loop of twill tape through the split ring (the tutorial called for a d-ring, but I didn't have one on hand) so she could wear the pouch around her neck, but I was so unhappy with how it turned out that I decided to skip it for now.  This will probably never be gifted to Granny unless I can't find another pattern that I like better.  Honestly, I can't imagine Granny will be wearing this around her neck because it would be a little heavy to wear comfortably for long.  We'll see though!

Back to the drawing board.