Binkies and Briefcases

That’s me and Abby with my dear friend Lauren. She is my oldest friend. We met in elementary school 20 years ago! (We are getting old, y’all.)

Lauren’s birthday was at the end of July and I wanted to make her something that she actually requested a while ago.

When we were in Nashville on our girl’s trip last year she was telling me about a problem she had while traveling. Lauren travels A LOT for business and for pleasure, as in over a dozen foreign countries in a year, and she was telling me about how she was constantly having to get ready in fancy hotel rooms paid for by her company. (Bummer, right? We all feel sooo bad for you, Lar.) But after she showered and did her hair in the morning she kept having to put her still-hot flat iron back into the suitcase so that she could check out of the hotel.

She asked me to make a cover for it.

I was like. “Sure, no problem.”

Then I hit a snag.

I wanted it to be heat/flame resistant for obvious reasons, but have you looked at flame resistant fabrics? They cost hundreds of dollars and are pretty much the ugliest fabric on Earth. The heat resistant sprays are also really pricey. Sorry, Lar, I’m not dropping 100 bucks on fabric for your flat iron cover. I guess I could just buy one, but that’s kind of a cop-out since she asked me to make it.

Hmmmm….

Duh! You know what is really cute, cheap, and flame resistant? Children’s pajamas!

(You can see the federal guidelines for flame resistant sleepwear here)

Now that I’ve done a little more research, I would make sure to buy size 9 months or larger. Kohl’s seems to be the best place to get them because they tell you when the pj’s are flame resistant. Some other companies (ahem, Tar-jay) only seem to label when clothes are not, which I didn’t find very helpful at all. Is a Sleep N Play specifically designed for sleeping? I don’t know. It says it’s also for playing, but it does say it’s for sleeping & it’s not labeled as not flame resistant…annoying.

Anyway, it’s a pretty easy project. I got it done in less than an hour.

Just cut out the sides of the pj’s in a shape similar to your flat iron.

Next, unfold each side and insert a piece of quilt batting cut to size.

Then refold it, sew the sides shut, and do a little quilting action. (I’ve never quilted anything & mine turned out fine, so yours will too, promise. Just use a heavy duty needle on the machine because you need to go through a lot of layers.) I just did large random circles because that motif went with the fabric I chose. I wanted it to look Vera Bradley-esque.

You should have two identical quilted pieces. Now sew them together, leaving the top open. Then hem the top. I also used the trim from the pj sleeves to add a little loop that could be used for hanging or carrying.

Basically, it’s like a skinny oven mitt without the part for your thumb, so I guess you could also use this technique for making oven mitts if you could find large enough pj’s. Pretend kid-size oven mitts, anyone?

There you go. Now we can all make cute covers for our flat irons, curling irons, toasters, and whatever else you can think of. Just please be careful. I’m not liable if yours catches on fire.