"I like you America" Gun Cozy

[mlheran]

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?)

[Rainbow_Storms]

Sweet glock. I love glocks. And I love your cozy. It's hilarious and cute. How can you go wrong?

[hippolvr1]

I quite literally laughed out loud when I saw this!  It definitely rocks.

[CraftyMcCrafterson]

W.O.W that is pretty sweet.

I am actually afraid of guns but this one is really cute... < How often can you write a sentence like that?

Great job!

[Lethargic]

Haha that fabric cracks me up. The cozy is great, looks really well done.

I don't think there should be any trouble making posts or anything. The only thing that kind of set me aback was where you said, "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"  I'm not sure what being white has to do with proving your not a crazy gun shooting criminal. :/

other than that, I hate guns but I love the cozy!

[kimmasaurus]

oh sweet heavens, this has got to be one of the most hilarious things i have ever seen!!!  the fabric itself is sheer awesome, and who on earth would ever think to make a GUN cozy?!  I wonder what my Philadelphia police officer fiance would say if one day there were one on his glock!?  rofl  this is awesome!!

I'm not sure what being white has to do with proving your not a crazy gun shooting criminal. :/

who cares?

[mlheran]

Haha that fabric cracks me up. The cozy is great, looks really well done.

I don't think there should be any trouble making posts or anything. The only thing that kind of set me aback was where you said, "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"  I'm not sure what being white has to do with proving your not a crazy gun shooting criminal. :/

other than that, I hate guns but I love the cozy!

Good point. I speak only marginally better than I write, which isn't that great at all! I'm pretty sure I understood that the usual statistical stereotype of a "crazy gun person" is a white male, which I'm not (on either count, that is, crazy or male  ). But because I started adding all sorts of adjectives to that sentence I think I muddled it all up (as usual). I should probably just delete all the text and just have the pics!  

[DIY ho]

Now that is crafty. You are so cool.

[sunshyne]

Love the silly - AND the political irony!

[GatsbyGirl]

This is truly one of the funniest things I've seen recently. Do you mind if I steal one of the photos for my desktop?

I'm really grooving on the slogan. It's like, "I really like you America. We can totally be friends, but let's not get all carried away and call it 'love.'"