Jane's patchwork guitar strap

Fatty and I gave Jane a guitar for her 10th birthday in December.  Included with the gift were lessons and the promise of a mommy-made guitar strap.  A promise because this girl is picky.  If I had gotten it wrong in any way, she wouldn't have used it.  She may not have ever played the guitar.  That's how particular she is.  On the upside, it's good she knows what she likes and she isn't afraid to tell me.  (No pink, but still girly.  Green is good and so is aqua.  Remember, no pink!)  As a result, this project was a complete collaboration.

The bummer about having a December birthday is that your mom might be a little too busy to sew your guitar strap right away.  (Ahem.  And let's not even get started about the birthday shirt.  I swear it's next on the list!  Again, I was afraid it wouldn't be right...)  Thank goodness that her lessons didn't start until January - that bought me some time.  It was a good thing, too.  There were a couple of fabrics that she liked and then abandoned.  But when I bought fat quarters of Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane, she zeroed in on one print in particular.  Ten days later, she was still sold on that print.  On Saturday, she picked the others to go with it, laid them out in the order she wanted them and I started cutting.  She went to swim practice and I got sewing while bread was baking.  It was finished when she came home.

I made two other guitar straps for friends this past fall.  With both of those and this one, I bought inexpensive nylon webbed straps and cut them apart for the hardware.  I searched the internet a few times and couldn't come up with decent leather bits at a reasonable price so re-purposing was necessary.  I made all the straps (one for an adult, two for children) adjustable so that the fit would be just right.

She likes it a whole heck of a lot.  That makes both of us smile.