New iPhone? Weave this Case!

Smart phones have gotten bigger and bigger and bigger.  Petty soon there will be smartphone suitcases to haul them around in.  The best way to keep up with the changes is to make your own.
I admit it, I am being forced to upgrade myself.  My iPhone 6 has not arrived yet, but to prepare for the arrival I am making a her an iPhone carrier. I made one for my iPhone 5, but the 6 is just going to fit.

This piece was created from hand painted silk and size 8/0 seed beads.  I used a ten dent coil, 41 warps across. The warp is Maysville Carpet Warp. I am using size D C-Long beading thread for the beadwork. The piece will be a tad more than 3 1/2 inches across and about 6 1/2 inches tall (which means I have to weave 13 inches).  It will be able to accommodate any of the iPhone 6 (I would make it a tad taller for the iPhone 6 plus) and other brands. It is lined with silk and embellished on the side and top with size 11/0 seed beads. The strap is also made of hand painted silk braided on a kumihimo disc.  Almost everything needed to make this piece is available on the Mirrix website.  Please see bottom of this post for resources.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are no set rules for this piece.  I will be playing with different colors silk sometimes building up straight lines between colors and at other times shading them together. I will be adding the occasional row of beads both for their decorative quality and because they are very helpful to keep the warp from pulling in and keeping the right spaces between them.

To begin, not using the shedding device, weave a row of beads.  Tie the two ends of the beading thread together on the right and then sew through the first bead so your thread is on the back of the piece until you need to use it again.

Weave a strand of silk, remembering to bubble!  Use the shed where the side warps are raised so the tail of the silk is behind the weaving.

Weave the first silk thread back and forth a few times before inserting a new threads.  I am working with two in the picture below

In preparation to insert a new row of beads, bring the bead thread to the front of the weaving between warps one and two.

Engage the shedding device to open up the next shed and insert a row of beads.  There will be two beads between the raised threads.

After you’ve woven the beads sew through one bead to get your bead thread on the back of the weaving.

Wrap the previous silk thread around the side warp thread twice in order to fill in the space the bead left on the side of the piece.

In the picture below I am using thread silk wefts and blending them together by crossing into each other’s color area.

I have added another row of beads.

My piece thus far!

 

In the next blog about this Smart Phone case I will show you how to do both the on-loom and off-loom finish work and show you how to make a square braid to use as the strap. You meanwhile need to find a pretty piece of silk with which to line it!

For great tapestry instruction where you can learn all sorts of amazing tapestry techniques to use in this piece check out the following:

Tapestry Weaving by Kirsten Glasbrook

Tapestry 101 by Kathe Todd-Hooker

The Tapestry Handbook The Next Generation by Carol Russell

Claudia’s Craftartedu online class

Rebecca Meezoff’s wonderful online class

Links to supplies:

Twelve Skeins of hand painted silk

Six Skeins of hand painted silk

Maysville Cotton/Poly Warp

8/0 and 11/0 bead soup

C-Lon Beading Thread

Kumihimo Plate with silk

Kumihimo Disc with silk

Tulip Beading Needles