***DIY Camera Case/Bag***

So once again I was faced with the problem with needing something that was a little out of my price range. After purchasing my new Canon camera, I was in need of a camera bag that would hold my camera equipment securely and safely.

My problem was that most good cases were 50-100 dollars, for a nice padded one that holds camera and lens. So I fell back to my question I always ask myself...

"Can I make it myself?

And sure enough with an idea, a visit to Pinterest, I saw others had done it before, I decided to do myself!  Now this looks like ordinary fashionable pink purse. And it was, until I added to it and made it into my own camera bag. 

One diy blogger also wrote about a the benefit of the camera bag looking like a purse. It doesn't scream, "Shiny Expensive Camera" is in it, unlike other camera bags that obviously look like they hold cameras.



1 yard of material of your choice. (What I used was about half to 3/4 yard of material. Get a a yard to play it safe. And make sure its a durable material. Canvas, cotton, etc are great. Something like satin ravels and it hard to sew.)
Velcro
Velcro glue (You can sew on the Velcro, but the glue works fine as well.)
2 packages of foam (1' x 17' x15")
Ruler
scissors
Sewing machine
thread

You can follow measurements for the diy blogs linked below, or mine own. I recommend you figure your own measurements, because each camera is different and each purse holds differently. 
My own measurements were

Long foam sides was 9 inches long by 5-6 inches tall.
Shorter foam sides was 6 inches long by 5-6 inches tall
The bottom was about 8 inches long by 5-6 inches width.

The idea is to fit is snuggly.

My pieces that go in the foam box, I eyeball measured. You want a piece that will encase you camera body and another to circle around the lens.  The rest of the space is for holding charger, extra batteries, etc.

My picture above shows bigger measurements, but later I cut them down to smaller size. But the idea is to cut your foam to size to form this topless box. It will be held together with clothe and Velcro.

With your material, I cut my two long pieces of material that measured about 35 inches long by about 8 inches tall.

I sew one short edge and one long side. Then with each piece of foam I put it in the casing and sewed it along the side to make a pocket.

This part takes time and can be difficult is you are working with larger pieces of foam. With larger pieces of foam it might be better to make each foam pieces it own casing then sewing the cases together to make the padding for the camera bag.

The bottom piece and the as many divider pieces you have each get their own material casing.

  Next part is attaching Velcro. If you are sewing it on, you would do this step before sewing the foam pockets. Here I just used Velcro glue, following the glue instructions to attach the strips. Hook side on the divider thinnest sides and two long loop strips on each side of the lengths of the case. The last is to attach Velcro to each of the short end of the case walls. This way you can disassemble the whole thing if need be.

And this is the finished product looks like. It looks little funny by itself. But put it in your purse its adorable and protects your camera very well as any expensive bag does.

 Hope you enjoyed this DIY. Below are the links to DIY'ers version of this Diy, that I found on Pinterest. You will notice we have theme here with blue and white swirly material.

I owned the purse, but when I purchased it was 8 dollar Target, clearance buy.

But the whole project total was less than 20 bucks for foam, material, Velcro and glue. Including the purse still under 30 dollars!!! A much better price than 50-100 price tag for something that doesn't look cute!!!

Enjoy your day!

Toodles!

Ps. The reason you don't see my new camera in these pictures is because I was using it to take these pictures. :)

http://vanillaandlace.blogspot.com/2011/01/diy-camera-pursebag.html


http://buchorn.com/2011/12/04/project-diy-camera-bag-purse/