Cookie Concentration Case Tutorial

We love our cookie concentration game.  However, the gallon size ziploc and construction paper game mat weren't faring too well with all the use they were getting.  Our upgrade is quite fabulous in my humble opinion :)

Materials: Fabric- 2 cuts 11" x 21"
                            - 1 cut 32" x 1.5" or 32" bias tape
                            - 1 cut 11" x 2.5"
                  Vinyl - 1 cut 11" x 8.5"
                   Zipper - 11"
                  Velcro - 1.5" of both sides
                   Embroidery Floss

 Easy way to get vinyl and a zipper- upcycle it from a bedsheet package you have in your stash :)

 1- Take your 11" x 2.5" piece of fabric, fold it in half and sew.  Turn it inside out  (a loop turner makes this easy!) and press with the seam in the center.

 2- While the iron is hot- make your bias tape.  There is a great tutorial on making bias tape here.  Cut into two 11" pieces and two 5" pieces. (Mine is not cut on the bias, while true bias tape that is cut on the bias is better, sometimes it is easier to cut on the grain for some purposes.)  To iron, I folded the fabric in half and ironed it, unfolded it, folded the outside edges to the center crease, ironed them down, then folded the tape in half and ironed again.

 3- Start the game grid.  To make your sandwich, take your two cuts, lay the inner face up, the 11" tube in the center with the seam side down, and the outer face down.  Sew around 3 sides, leaving the bottom open.  Turn and topstitch around the 3 sides, iron again if needed.

 4- Mark out the 3 x 6 grid.  My lines are 3 1/4" apart.

5- Sew down the lines with the longest stitch on your machine. We'll embroider to define them later.

 6- Start on the case!  Sandwich the vinyl face up, grid face up, zipper face down.  Sew a seam down the sandwich.

 7- Cover the seam with bias tape, pin, and sew.

 8-  Roll up the grid and pin.

 9- Fold up the vinyl to the other zipper half, pin and sew.

 10- Cover with bias tape, pin and sew.

 11- Open up the zipper, and turn right side out.

 12- Flatten out the pouch, fold and pin bias tape to the edge, and sew.

 13- Attach bias tape on the other side and you have a case :)

 14- On the tube, fold over the edge two times and pin.

 15- Pin and sew sticky side of velcro to the top over the center seam.  Pin the soft side of velcro to the base of the tube on the opposite side.

 16- Time to embroider the grid! I used a whipped running stitch with embroidery floss over top of the machine stitched lines.

 In short, run the needle through the top of the stitch, pull through, and lather, rinse, repeat.

And TA DA! You're ready to play cookie concentration in style!

 Houndstooth. Grey. Yellow. YES PLEASE!! (I'm keeping this one for me and Bug.)

 P.S.  I think the grid could be equally cute (and less time intensive) using ric rac or other types of embellishment, I just didn't have any on hand in my stash.  If you do want to use another embellishment like ric rac, I would sew it on the grid before making the sandwich for the top, then sew the sandwich as directed to conceal any raw edges.