Today I have my homage to Ron Swanson of Parks and Recreation >w< probably one of my favorite shows currently playing on TV today.

The inspiration for this project came from a lot of sources 😀 The idea for a bacon case was one I made for my boyfriend a while back, and I’ve been itching to do it again. And I’m also tucking into my stash of lining fabrics. The lining fabrics sure are tricky. I don’t have enough of them for clothing, which is where they would be best, so I’m left to use them for lining things like pouches and bags. The fabric can be quite slippery so I don’t love using it, so I’ve taken the opportunity to try and devise some tricks while using it so the flimsiness doesn’t affect the project. You’ll see what I mean around step 4.

I knew that I wanted to create a project that combined the bacon and eggs together ^w^ so I thought making a tablet case with a matching egg pouch seemed like a nice fit! The bacon can hold your tablet while the matching egg pouch can hold a small cord, SD card, or maybe your headphones. I personally made this one to fit my Nook Color, though this pattern should also fit other 7” tablets such as the Kindle Fire or iPad mini 😀

Difficulty:

Very straightforward, though there are French seams and some zippers to deal with if you find those tricky.
Makes one 6 1/2” x 9” case and one 5” x 3” pouch

Materials & Tools:
• 1/4 yd. of medium to heavyweight cream fabric for bacon case (denim or canvas would work great – I used twill)
• 1/4 yd. of lightweight fabric for lining (light cotton would be perfect – I used polyester lining fabric)
• 1/8 yd. of light to medium weight white fabric for egg case (light twill or cotton would be perfect – I used a light shirting fabric)
• 6” (at least) white zipper
• 8” (at least) cream zipper
• 2 1/2” of thin white ribbon
• Charm lanyard or keychain
• Matching sewing thread
• Basic sewing tools (sewing machine, scissors, iron, needles, pins, fabric marker, seam ripper)
Appliqué supplies:
• 2” x 5” scrap of yellow appliqué fabric
• 20” x 10” (1/4 yd.) of red appliqué fabric
• 20” x 10” (1/4 yd.) of light or heavy duty fusible web

Before you begin:
1. Print out the project pattern here
2. Assemble the pattern pieces, see the page here for more help
3. Lay out the pattern pieces on your fabric and cut them out
4. Mark the fabric pieces with the markings from the pattern

1. For the bacon case, we start with the appliqué. You’ll want to trace the bacon stripes to your fusible web, iron it to your appliqué fabric, cut the pieces out, then iron them to your case pieces however you prefer. I sewed mine down with a zigzag stitch, though you could go with a straight or satin stitch if you like. You could also skip the sewing altogether if you’ve used heavy duty fusible web, as the adhesive in the heavy stuff is enough to hold the pieces down without sewing.
At this point, I ironed some fusible fleece interfacing to the case for extra padding for the tablet.

2. Next up is the zipper. Trim your bacon case zipper down to 6 1/2”, then sew the zipper tabs on each end. Do this by sandwiching the cut ends of the zipper between the short ends of two of your zipper tab pieces. Sew all three layers together, then repeat the same thing for the other side. Press the fabric away from the zipper when you finish.

3. With the zipper all ready to go, you can then sew it to your case fabrics. Sandwich the zipper between one of the outer case pieces and one of the lining pieces, lining up the raw edge with the zipper tape. Sew all the layers together with a 1/4” seam allowance. Press the fabric away from the zipper, then repeat this with the other side of the zipper tape and the remaining case fabrics – that’s the step you see here.

4. A typical pattern such as this would usually have you sew the lining and outer case fabrics separately to finish off the project. I chose to try something different to go along with the flimsy lining fabric I was using. Feel free to try it out to see if the process is for you. If you want to finish the pattern the typical way, steps 10 & 11 of The Zip Top Purse will cover it nicely 😀
Layer all the case fabrics together with lining fabrics facing inward and outer fabrics facing outward – everything should be arranged as if the case were finished. Pin the edges together as precisely as you can, then sew the layers together with a medium width zigzag; a seam allowance at about 1/8”. Go around the perimeter of the case, then clip any excess fabric along the sides, bottom, and corners when you finish.

5. To complete the French seam, turn the whole case right side out and press it flat. The goal here is to sew a scant 3/8” seam that will encase your previous seam allowance, so it can be a bit tricky to make sure that seam is completely covered. Once you’re sure you have it, sew along the perimeter of the case as before, and that finishes the bacon!

6. For the egg pouch, you’ll need to prepare the zipper as before in step 2. Trim your zipper to 4” long and sew the zipper tabs on the ends just like with the bacon case.

7. Apply and sew the egg yolk appliqué onto the egg pouch front just as in step 1 with the bacon case.

8. The back of the egg pouch is made from sewing two halves together with the zipper in between. To get this right, sandwich the zipper between the egg pouch back (left) outer and lining pieces, then sew the three layers together. When you finish, repeat this with the other side of the zipper tape and the egg pouch back (right) pieces. Press the fabrics away from the zipper.

9. The rest of the egg pouch is completed very similarly to the bacon case. Layer the remaining pieces of the egg pouch as follows: pouch back (lining side up), front lining (wrong side up), and pouch front (sunny right side up). Pin all those layers together, then fold your ribbon piece in half and line up the raw edge along the side of the pouch where the pattern indicates. Zigzag around the entire perimeter just like with the bacon case.

10. To finish, turn the egg right side out and sew around the perimeter again, encasing the previous seam. Now your egg pouch is complete! Simply use the lanyard to attach it to the bacon case zipper and YOU’RE DONE!

So what do you think? Any other Parks & Rec fans out there? Or maybe just bacon fans :B
I hope you’ll give this project a try, but if you’d just like to buy the one in the photos, you can find it on my Etsy.
If you do try making the project, I’d love to see it! And I’ll send you exclusive free patterns as a reward!

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