DIY Key Fob

My favorite part of my new storage trunk is that I am able to lock it! I know it may seem silly, but its such a huge stress relief to know that when I'm done using it, I can easily lock all my supplies and projects up and my little helpers are no longer able to get to them.

And while that may be the main reason I like having my supplies under lock and key, I also like it because it gave me an excuse to make another project from the See Kate Sew book. One of the first projects that Kate has in the book is sewing your own key fob. I actually didn't think I would make this one. It seemed a little clunky for my car keys and i don't have another key to put it on. (And Mike would never use it, so there's no point in making him one either). So the second I got that key (without anything on it to keep me from losing it), I knew this was the excuse I need to make my very own key fob!

The Project

Make a Key Chain

Instructions from the See Kate Sew Book

The Results

So to make my key fob I actually used a fat quarter jelly roll piece. (I mistakenly bought some while I was Joann's. I didn't realize it was just thin pieces of cotton. Luckily though it was the right width to make my key fob strap, so I just trimmed it down to the right length!)

And once I had my strap down to the right length, I easily ironed on some Pellon 808 interfacing. And then I sewed up the length of my strip. (So far so good with this project!)

Next step was to turn it right side out. This is where I ran into a little problem. My tube was so long and narrow that it was hard to flip it, even with the safety pin. Eventually I was able to get the safety pin through the tube and with a lot of shimmying the fabric, I was able to flip my tube right side out.

All right I don't have any leather scraps around my house (and I couldn't find at Joann's either), so I just used some gold foil pleather scraps I did have. (In hind sight I should have used the interfacing on them too. Just to strengthen them a little more). And I don't have fancy clips to use on my leather fabric, so I just used binder clips to keep the pleather in place while I sewed it together.

Once I had the pleather pieces sew down, I had Mike put on the key fob hardware on for me. (I actually just asked for a pair of pliers to push the two sides together and he then just put it together for me). And finally I put the key ring and key onto the strap.

Here is how my key fob turned out:

I really like it because the strap is long enough that it can wrap around my wrist, but also short enough that I can let it hang from my thread organizer with no problem.