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I originally published this tutorial over at Crafting a Green World.
A key fob is a quick and easy stashbusting project that will come in super handy!
If you know someone who’s required to keep an ID and/or a key accessible at all times–a college student, say–then you know that it can actually be quite annoying. Nobody really wants to hang a lanyard around their neck every day of their lives, nor do they want to always be digging through their bag every time they have to swipe into a building or unlock their dorm room door or use their meal plan.
A key fob is a great solution for anyone who needs just a couple of things handy. It fits happily on one’s wrist when needed for ready access, and makes your stuff a LOT easier to find in a backpack or tote bag. And although you do have to purchase the hardware, the rest of it is simple to sew from scraps, making the key fob a great solution for the enthusiastically scrapbusting crafter, too!
Here’s how to make your own quick and easy and super handy key fob!
Materials
To sew a key fob, you will need:
- 4″x12″ piece of fabric. I like quilting cotton or similar for this. But if you used something heavy like denim, you might be able to get away with omitting the interfacing!
- 4″x12″ piece of interfacing. I really like Pellon 809 Decor-Bond for this project, although you could go a step up or down in weight and your key fob would still turn out nice. Because this is a stashbusting project, though, don’t despair if you don’t have any suitable interfacing! Dig through your fabric stash and look for anything on the stiffer side, like pre-washed Eco-fi felt or PUL, or even double up on thin interfacing.
- super glue. Use E6000, Gorilla Glue, or something similar. For some reason I have the WORST time keeping super glue nice in between uses, so I always try to buy the smallest package possible.
- 1″ key fob hardware. If you don’t want to spring for the special pliers, don’t think that you can just use your regular pliers–the grooves on conventional hardware pliers will scratch the snot out of your key fob hardware. Ask me how I know, ahem! If you do want to use regular pliers, pad both sides of the key fob hardware super well by putting a popsicle stick or scrap of denim fabric between the pliers and the hardware.
Step 1: Cut your fabric and interfacing to size.
As you can see in the image above, these key fobs are so quick and easy to sew that you might as well make multiples!
As for scraps, for this project I’m using a scrap that once belonged to a button-down shirt, a scrap that once belonged to a tablecloth, and a bit of stash.
Cut the fabric and the interfacing to 4″x12″.
Step 2: Iron the interfacing to the back of the fabric.
Hmm, I don’t know if my cuts are looking perfectly precise there. That plaid, especially, was a little more loosely-woven than I really wanted, but it was exactly the right colorway. Oh, well–the folding will fix it!
Step 3: Fold the fabric into quarters, lengthwise.
The easiest way to do this is to first fold the fabric in half, lengthwise, and iron well to crease it. Then fold each side in to meet the middle crease, and again iron to crease it.
The key fob is going to feel very thick at this point, and won’t want to hold all those creases, so clip it well.
Step 4: Edge-stitch around all sides.
Can y’all see the mistake that I made on all three of these key fobs?
ARGH!
I edge-stitched around all the raw edges of my key fob, but for some reason–forgetfulness? Distracted by an exciting part in my Fourth Wing audiobook?–I neglected to stitch down that fourth side, the folded side.
I’m so irritated at myself, but these key fobs are finished and gone to their college student recipients by now, and the good news is that there’s no way on earth that any of those teenagers are going to notice the absence of that one stitch line that they didn’t even know was supposed to be there. I fear that over time that fold will lose its crispness, though, especially at the middle where it will rub against the wearer’s wrist.
Ugh, this mistake will haunt me until the day I die.
Don’t be like me–edge-stitch ALL THE WAY AROUND your key fob! Depending on your machine, you may have to increase your needle size or stitch length to handle the bulk, but it should nevertheless be sewable for any home machine.
Step 5: Attach the key fob hardware.
The very first time I made key fobs, I excitedly put them in one of my kid's college care packages to give away to her friends, and over the proceeding semester, I was MORTIFIED to hear from them that one by one, their key fobs had fallen apart! College students are hard on their stuff, and the prongs simply could not hold the weight long-term.
Another failure to take to my grave!
I’ve seen a suggestion to use a seam ripper to poke little holes in the fabric that let the prongs dig in deeper, but just between us, I’ve had no more problems with my key fobs detaching after I started gluing the dang things.
So, fold the key fob fabric in half so that the short edges are together. I stitch them together because now I am the most paranoid key fob crafter, but tbh you probably don’t need to.
Run a thin line of super glue along the short edge. YOUR key fobs won’t be going anywhere!
Follow the directions on the key fob hardware to attach it. Usually, this will require you to set the fabric edges together inside the hardware, then use pliers (don’t forget to pad them if they’ve got grooves!) to clamp the hardware around the edges. Pay attention that the prongs are piercing the fabric, not just folding against it–I’ve found that tugging on the fabric as I clamp it helps with this–and that the hardware is lined up well with the fabric. With 1″ hardware and fabric folded down to 1″ wide, it should be a perfect fit!
Set the key fobs aside for the super glue to cure, then they’re ready to use.
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Y’all, tell me honestly: in the above image, the missing edge-stitching is all you can see, isn’t it?!?
ARGH!!!
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