Remotely Controled...Sometimes...

A few years ago, I bought all of this #5 pearl cotton for twenty five dollars at a closing sale for a needlework shop.  It was all unopened skeins of DMC brand.  When I got it home, I looked at my color card and found that I had almost every color that DMC makes and two and three skeins of some.  That is hundreds of dollars worth of thread.  One of the best hauls I ever made at a garage sale. 

I can't tell you how much I have used, but I still have most of the colors.  I do use a lot.  Not all would fit in this basket at the beginning.

This is one of the things that I use it for.  Simon made a comment on the remote cozy yesterday, so I thought that I would give you a few ideas on how to make one.  I ask you...Would you rather search for the plain gray thing at the top or spot the brightly colored one at the bottom in a lot less time?

There is no set formula for them, since the remotes are all different shapes and sizes.

I make them on #14 plastic canvas.  You can find it just about anywhere that they carry needlework supplies.

I could make them of regular needlepoint canvas, but that would just be making life more difficult for myself... Remember me?  Mind of a six year old and the attention span of a gnat.

The easiest one that I have started is the Apple remote.  It will be just two flat pieces of canvas.  Yes I am making one... It will replace the beaded one that I did last year.  That one was already falling apart. 

One thing about these, they do last.  The one that I finished replacing the front of yesterday was made in 2009.  Five years isn't bad for something that you handle every day...A lot.

I am working on one for the large remote that controls everything but the kitchen sink.  It is oddly shaped and I decided to make it so that the Apple remote could be slipped in the top end, when not in use.

The big problem with the Apple is that on it's own, it is very easy to miss.  Really hard to keep track of.

Anyway, in order to start one of these, I lay the remote on a piece of the canvas with one of the front sides lined up with the edge of the remote.  Wrap it around and draw a line even with the other edge of the remote front.  I don't cut until I am sure that I have the markings right.

In the case of the one I'm working on, the bottom is curved, so I had to draw and re draw it several times until I got it right. The direct TV one that I just finished was at least square at the bottom, even though it was a flat round semicircle.  The back of that one curves, but it is straight up and down. You need to cut out windows for the buttons that you use the most.  In the case of the one on the left, I left a bar across the middle so that it would stay together.  I did cover up some of the buttons that I never use.  The remote is open at the business end and slips out if I need to use any of the ones that are covered.

As for the design, I just wing it.  If you wanted to do it, you can find lots of needlepoint patterns on the net and in books. I try to make them as bright as I can... Easier to see where they are hiding.

After I finish these, in a while from now, I am eyeing the I pad...  It could use a new cover...

Back to work...Minis tomorrow.  I promise.

See you then.