Micro-Project

My husband requested I make him a dust cover for a microscope he bought and keeps in the garage. The microscope is not very big, about a foot tall. When he is woodworking away, the garage can be sawdust haven and so the instrument needed protecting.

The base is square and so I could have made a boxy rectangular cover but decided to make something a bit more custom. I laid the microscope on its side and roughly traced around its profile. It is not quite symmetric front to back but close enough. Here is the template I made for sides, folded along a centerline. The front and back would be rectangles. I allowed for ½" seams and ½" ease on each side of the microscope. I picked a fabric that seemed appropriately hardware-like or nerdy, take your pick of adjective.

Now the trick was to sew these two cathedral window shaped sides on to the front and back rectangles. I decided it would be easier to make the top ridge a seam rather having one continuous front-to-back strip. Seaming it was also a more economical use of fabric. I wanted no raw edges so I used French seams throughout - double the sewing but no ragged threads would be exposed. Easing the curve to the straight was not hard. I just took my time and adjusted often. I had cut the front and back rectangles extra long enabling me to trim them after the eased seam was complete to make a straight bottom edge.

I turned the bottom hen under twice and topstitched it. Here is the finished cover. It is a bit wide because I intentionally gave it a fair amount of ease in the width. My husband "grumbles" that when I make curtains I make the casing "within one millimeter" so sliding them on the rod is doable but not easy. I did not want him to have to struggle to drop the dust cover over his microscope.

Here is the microscope all tucked away. One happy husband is not shown but I scored a few points with him. This small "micro-project", completed in one sitting, was also a fun mini-accomplishment for me. I will share it with the folks at Let's Bee Social #129.