By Jessica Wilson
My friend Alexander (age 8) has an iPod shuffle. While he loves to listen to all his happy tunes, he is not a fan of the clippiness and wishes he had something to better house his mini jukebox. We didn’t have MP3s back when I was a kid. We didn’t even have CDs, but believe it or not we did have music and tunes and cassette tapes and Walkmans (which are a lot like iPods but bulkier). My Walkman was some no-name drugstore gadget but it still had headphones and played my favorite Oingo Boingo tapes to perfection. Size-wise it was a bit on the bulky side, and the plastic built-in clip didn’t last too long so I made myself a cozy of sorts, but back then I called it a purse.
Even as a junior high kid I thought outside the box. My first foray into fashionable crafting consisted of turning McDonaldland cookie boxes into purses. It was easy enough to do as long as I had a roll of packing tape and a yard or so of ribbon. This project plays on my old school sensibilities, but since all you lucky ducks use the much smaller iPod you can get away with something a bit smaller than a cookie box. Hopefully, Alexander will approve.
Materials
Foil juice pouch
Clean sock preferably a tube or long sock
Scissors
Aileen’s Tacky Glue or other white glue
Hole punch
Ribbon or cord, about 1 yard
Wooden spoon
Clothespins or paperclips
Directions
Step 1: Gather your materials and get ready for some fun. Cut along the top edge of your foil pouch to remove the closed seam and open it up. Wash it out and allow it to dry before moving on.
Step 2: Prepare your sock. Turn your sock of choice inside out. If you are using a tube sock or a sock without a heel you are ready for Step 3. If not, you will need to cut the heel to toe part of your sock off. Once cut, stitch it closed either by machine or a whipstitch. You may also glue it closed.
Step 3: With a hole punch, punch 2 holes into the top of your pouch: one hole in the front on one side, and the other in the back on the opposite side, kitty-corner-like.
Step 4: Gather your ribbon, thin rope, or cord and determine how low you want your pouch/cozy to hang. Thread one end through one hole, and tie or knot it put. Repeat with the other end through the other hole. I would suggest a longer cord so you can wear your cozy cross-wise over your shoulder and across the front of your body like a messenger bag.
Step 5: With sock still inside out, slip it into your juice pouch. Use the wooden spoon as an anchor of sorts by inserting the spoon into the sock, spoon mouth in, handle out. Use the handle of the spoon as a guide to push the sock all the way into the pouch so that the bottoms touch. Cut the top portion of your sock off about 2″ from the lip of your pouch. This will be you cuff.
Step 6: Remove the sock from the pouch and squirt a couple lines of glue into the pouch. Push the sides together and smooth with your hands to distribute the glue to both sides. Open the pouch wide enough to slip the sock back in. You will need to pop your hands into the pouch and they will get a bit gluey. Wash your hands and slide your sock back into the pouch using the wooden spoon.
Step 7: Add a line of glue across the top outside edge of your pouch and fold over the extra bit of sock to create a cuff. Repeat for the other side. Use 2 clothespins or paperclips to hold it in place until it dries. (You can of course omit the glue and stitch around the top using your sewing machine or you could stitch it up by hand).
Step 8: Pop in your iPod or MP3 player, place your strap over your body, and you are good to go! If you do not wish to flash about a silver Capri Sun juice pouch, you can decorate the outside of your pouch between Steps 6 and 7. If you don’t have a sock on hand and are crafty with a needle and thread, you can stitch up a wee pocket from a piece of polar fleece or other soft fabric. Have fun! This pouch should be large enough to cozy on up to a Shuffle, Nano, classic, or any other MP3 player that is 4″ by 3″ or smaller.
About the Author:
Jessica Wilson is most happily known as ‘jek in the box’ and spends most of her time crafting it up and taking pictures. She can often be found standing on benches over on Flickr and creating all sorts of kiddie crafts on her blog scrumdilly-do! She lives a life of scrumdillydilly and loves to share.
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