Friday Finishes #26: iPhone Cross-Stitch Case

The finished piece!

The finished piece!

Welcome to the next Friday Finishes article!

I honestly have no idea what the number of this finish is… I’m guessing it has to be around the 15th or so? Once I actually get around to writing all of my articles and they’re all in proper order I’ll be coming back to fix the number. (I’ve just done a mental count and it seems like it’s more in the mid-20s or so rather than 15 but we’ll get back to it!)

Name of Piece: iPhone Cross-Stitch Case Kit in Black – DIY

Designed by: Me! The case came with patterns but I tossed them and made my own.

Distributed as a kitted DIY project by the Coats & Clark Company, under the same name. Charts in kit designed by Kooler Design Studio.

Kit Contains: perforated phone cover, 6 colors of thread, needle, charts, and instructions.

Finished Size: Fits any iPhone 4/4S

a progress picture

a progress picture

The Story: I found this case in my local Wal-Mart’s craft department. My boyfriend mentioned that he would really enjoy it if I made him a phone case, and I was more than happy to do so. The patterns that came with the kit were decidedly too girly (I don’t blame the company, they probably assumed it was a girl craft and made by girls for girls, especially since the cover had a girl displaying her pink case) so we sat down together to look for something my boyfriend would actually want on his case. He decided on a Game of Thrones design, the Stark family’s sigil with the “Winter is Coming” motto. All the designs available were either full scale pieces or bookmarks – neither of which would fit on the case. So, I spent an entire evening mapping out the design in KG-Stitch LE and designing my own Game of Thrones chart to fit the case. I’ve never designed a chart before so it was quite fun!

Time To Complete: 10 hours (I worked on it nonstop from the time I finished the design; 5 hours the first night, 5 hours the second night!)

halfway through! stitching the green

halfway through!

Review: I was a little frustrated with the lack of information on the kit. There was no indication anywhere of size or what the hole count of the case was, so I had to count by hand and do a sort of guesswork to figure it out. It didn’t make my first time designing a pattern any easier and when I started stitching I realized it was much longer on the case than what I thought it would be. It actually fit better because of it, but I still don’t know how it ended up longer! Considering they only provide four very girly designs (at least in the kit I got) it’s more than likely that a person would want to design their own, and leaving out the case’s information makes things difficult.

I did really enjoy working with the case, however. It was not difficult to handle, the needle and thread went smoothly through the holes, and if you need to poke your own, additional holes for quarter stitchers or backstitch (like I had to) it’s very easy to do. The holes were spaced just right that I could cover the entire surface of the case in full crosses, except for two or three places where the camera hole was and I filled in with half stitches instead.

The finished piece!

The finished piece!

Final Verdict: Despite the lack of information included, I loved working with the iPhone Case. The customization is endless. I would definitely recommend that anyone who wants an iPhone case to get a Cross-Stitch case and make your own!

Have you done this kit before? How did it go for you? How did you like it, or not like it, as the case may be? Did you use the included patterns or design your own? Leave a comment below or head on over to our Facebook page and tell us how it went!

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Friday Finishes is a segment where I catalog and review all the cross-stitch pieces I have ever completed. Some of the pieces I no longer have information on, or I don’t have pictures because I gave away the piece as a gift and forgot to take a picture, but I’ll do my best to be as informative as possible! Check back on Fridays for more.