Friday, April 5, 2013

Embroidery Thread Wrapped cable

Is it just me, or are the USB cables for Apple products kind of flimsy?  Within a couple months of use, our cord's outer plastic coating tore, exposing the wires inside.  Now, I'm not an electrical engineer or anything... but I figured that exposed wires weren't too safe.  After using electrical tape to fix the tear several times, our resulting cord looked less and less attractive.

So when I came across Brit + Co's tutorial to wrap cables in embroidery thread and Flax and Twine's   tutorial for embroidery thread wrapped earrings, I turned to embroidery thread as a stylish and fun way to solve my problem.
Geek chic?
Here are the materials that I used:
- Tacky glue
- Scissors
- Embroidery thread
- Broken Cable
Directions:
1.  Cut all of your embroidery threads five times the length you want wrapped.

2.  Tie a knot at the base of your cable.  This is where you will start wrapping.  Put a drop of glue to secure the knot in place.

3.  Begin your design by wrapping one thread around the other embroidery thread and cable.  (In this case, I started by wrapping my pink thread around my orange thread and cable.)  To switch colors, simply switch threads and continue wrapping.  At any point in time you'll have one thread being displayed while the other thread color is hidden.   (Note:  I found it helpful to use my foot to hold down the other end of the cable I wrapped. I would have taken a photo of this... but I figured you didn't want to see my large pale foot.)

4.  When you've wrapped as much cable as you wanted, tie a knot and snip off any excess thread.  Once again, add a drop of glue to secure that knot in place.  

Now we'll see if that tear appears again...muah ha ha ha ha ha.