accessorizing

Posted by marne on August 20, 2009 in other things | 9 comments

Is it silly to make accessories for my iPhone? I really will stop talking about it soon, but I thought I'd share one more little project. I may be teased for this, but it's really quite handy and also cute, so I will subject myself to the possibility of mockery. Say you want to watch something longer than your typical youtube video on your iPhone, like The Swell Season Tiny Desk Concert on NPR, for example. It isn't always very practical to have to hold onto your phone for 20 or 30 minutes. Especially if you are eating your lunch or knitting while enjoying the show.  I am not the first person to want a stand, and there are dozens of great ideas out there. I decided to coordinate with the pouch I made for my cords, and made a little beanbag chair for my phone:

It works just about anywhere, and took all of maybe five minutes to make. I used fabric I already had and half a bag of split peas from the cupboard, so even the cost was negligible.

Here's the quick how-to, should you realize that you, too, need a beanbag for your phone. Which I'm pretty sure you do.

Cut a 10" x 5" rectangle of fabric. Fold the fabric in half (right sides together), and sew the short edges. Sew one of the adjacent edges. For bonus cuteness, sew a little ribbon tab into one of the seams. You should have one open edge. Mark the middle of that edge, and bring the short edge seam to meet it. Sew, leaving a couple inches open for turnng and stuffing. Turn right side out, and press as best you can. Use a paper funnel, fill with beans or peas or rice. I used around half a one pound bag. It should be about 2/3 full. Stitch shut the rest of the opening sturdily by hand, and there you are!

I've been trying out some camera apps on my phone. I used one called Polarize for the picture above. Here's a nice list of free photography apps. I can't carry my big camera around with me every day, so I really want to be able to take some decent shots with my phone. It's fun to be able to upload them almost instantly, and now that I've got some fun apps for editing them, I'll be taking more and more.