So it looks like I'll have to be the one to go there...
First off, this is my first project ever posted on Craftster, but I've been lurking and enjoying all the creative people for some time now. This challenge struck me because I just recently purchased my first handgun. Please understand that I'm not a crazy gun person; I'm a white, rural-CA-dwelling, violence and crime disdaining, 32-year-old woman who had never fired a gun before taking a handgun safety class earlier this year. I was quite pleased that I'm a bit of a "natural" and completely LOVE target shooting on the range!
Anyway, I thought for sure someone else would do a gun cozy! The few I googled were knitted and more pocket-like, but I wanted something a little different...
First I started with a literal
scrap of this amazing fabric I found in a bin of clothes in the reuse-recycle area of our dump. How great is this?!
From there I traced my shiny new Glock 19 to create a pattern blank which I can use for many types of "cozies."
Close-up of the pattern with my notations...
I wanted something that revealed a bit of what was in it, for textural and visual contrast, and I also wanted to be able to use it while the gun was locked. A bit of the irony is due to the fact that when the cozy is on the gun is almost completely inoperable.
And then there's the whole message on the fabric! How can that not impart irony?! Actually, I've learned that it can go a few ways -my intention was to have the cozy almost be like a straightjacket that says, in effect, "thank you for keeping me safe" while rendering the gun useless. Other people I've shown it to have read it as being pro-gun and pro-America (which it IS, but...). BAH! We're not here for politics, bring on the craft!!
After several hours sewing tiny seams and hand-tacking rick-rack...
Snaps in the back...
(They're "antiqued," not cracked!
)
Fully functional snaps, at that!
The right side has the same message...
The all-important open area for the chamber...
And with the slide unlocked -much more familiar looking...
Ready to go to the range! Can't wait to hear what they'll say when they see
this...
I'm looking forward to making many more of these -fleece, lace, vinyl, the possibilites are endless!!
(And I do hope this post doesn't spark controversy. I know guns, gun safety, and gun rights are generally touchy issues, but let's focus on the silly cozy, okay?)
