How to Sew a Glasses Case

This tutorial will guide you through making a very simple cotton lined glasses case that looks trendy and expensive. It will easily fit glasses and sunglasses ranging in size from very small to big and oversized. If you plan and organize well, this project will only take about 20 minutes to complete!

I chose vegan leather to create this case for it's durability and thickness. This fabric will protect glasses and sunglasses well. Vegan leather is really just a fancy name for pleather or fake leather but it sounds so nice and trendy I don't want to call it anything else! Vegan leather has a similar look, texture and feel of animal leather but it doesn’t require harming any animals, which is fantastic!! It is extremely easy to work with for any craft/sewing project.

You will need the following items to complete this glasses case:

• ¼ yard vegan leather
• ¼ yard 100% cotton fabric (your favorite pattern)
• Hammer on snap
• Hammer
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Cutting mat
• Ruler
• Rotary cutter (you could also use scissors if you don't have a rotary cutter)

Cut the following pieces:

For the case:

Two 4 inch by 8 inch rectangles of vegan leather

Two 4 inch by 8 inch rectangles of cotton fabric

For the tab:

One 1 ½ inch by 2 inch rectangle of vegan leather

One 1 ½ inch by 2 inch rectangle of cotton fabric

For the stripe detail:

One 2 inch by 10 inch rectangle of cotton fabric

For the stripe:

Fold the long edges of the 2 inch by 10 inch rectangle over
and iron flat. You can eye ball this. It doesn’t need to be exact. This piece is going to make the decorative stripe across the front of the case. My folds were about 3/8 of an inch in on each side.

For the tab:

Place the 1 ½ inch by 2 inch rectangles wrong sides together of vegan leather stitch around the edges leaving one short side open. Trim the two bottom corners off (as shown in the photo) and turn right side out. Trimming the corners will give more of a square finish than not trimming them. Basically, it’s less fabric to get smashed in the corner!

With wrong sides together (of one vegan leather and one cotton rectangle) stitch along one short edge. Open the pieces and sew the decorative stripe at a diagonal. I understand this piece of fabric is way too long, however, I like to make them too long so I can place the fabric pattern strategically to get the best effect. This is more important if the pattern is sparse or large. With these dots it didn’t matter so much. Trim the excess fabric off the edges. Fold pieces back together (right sides out) and stitch along the top of the seam.

Sandwich the remaining two rectangles with the tab (open or unsewn side to the edge) in the middle along one short side. Make sure cotton is facing cotton and vegan leather is facing vegan leather. Stitch along the top edge capturing the tab. Open the pieces and turn right side out. The tab should be facing out. Sew along the seam.

Not all snaps are created equal. For this case use a heavy duty snap that requires hammering to secure. The squeeze snaps will not be strong enough for this application. Arrange proper two snap pieces (look at the back of the snaps package) on the front and back of the tab. (Decorative snap piece goes on the vegan leather side.) Hammer together.Place the remaining two snap pieces one the front (vegan leather side) and inside front (between the back side of the vegan leather and the cotton) of the front side of the case making sure to line up where the tab will fold over. I just said ‘front’ a lot of times! If all those ‘fronts’ didn’t make sense please refer to the pictures! Hammer in place.

Both sides of the case are now complete. With right sides facing each other stitch all sides except the side with the tab. I suggest double stitching the opening for added strength. Trim corners (like with the tab) and turn inside out.Store glasses or sunglasses in the case or give it as a fabulous handmade gift that anyone could use!