Since I got my Nikon D90 from my hubby for Christmas, I’ve been eyeing up all the pretty camera strap covers over on Etsy. 

I just loved the idea of covering the boring and scratchy Nikon camera strap with a pretty fabric that would also be soft around my neck.

I thought that maybe I could just make one for myself.

For Christmas, my Mom bought me a new sewing machine (the Brother XL2600I 25-Stitch Free-Arm Sewing Machine with Multiple Stitch Functions) since I was ALWAYS borrowing hers whenever a project would come up.

Luckily, I also picked up some of my Mom’s craftiness, so I decided once I could find some pretty fabric I’d attempt to sew my own camera strap cover. 

I knew I wanted to use minky dot fabric (shown left) for the side of the strap that rests against my neck…it’s a fabric that is used most often to make baby blankets and accessories.  Because of it’s softness, I thought this would make a great backing fabric.

Then I found this really pretty pink and brown patterned fabric that matched the chocolate minky dot fabric perfectly.

Now granted there is probably a pattern out there somewhere in Google land for this, but I just decided to “wing it”.

Here is my process:

• Measured the length of my camera strap (that came with the camera) adjusted to my custom fit
• Cut my fabric allowing for 2½ times the width of the strap and about 2 inches longer than the length that I wanted the finished cover to be
• Folded the patterned fabric over (pattern side inside) and sewed it together with a ¼” seam
• Pulled the fabric right-side-out and ironed it flat with the seam centered
• Repeated this with the other (minky dot) fabric
• Sewed the raw ends under on both the patterned fabric and minky dot fabric
• Pinned both fabrics together and sewed them together at the edges

The tricky part was feeding the strap through the completed cover because the minky dot fabric was a little bulkier than I allowed for.  After about 20 minutes of getting it to pull over the original strap, it was finished.  I actually like that it fits very snugly because now the strap won’t twist inside the cover, so it worked out well.

From there I had extra fabric and decided that I’d create an additional cover for my camera bag strap and also for the top handle…you know, so it could all totally match :)

I love that some of the covers being sold over on Etsy have a little pocket added to hold the lens cap while shooting…I may have to incorporate that onto the next one.