project // turtle screen cleaner

My dad loves his tablet. He's always checking email, watching videos, and catching up on Facebook. So for Father's Day I thought it would be fun to make him a little screen cleaner to wipe away the fingerprints. And I couldn't resist using English paper piecing hexagons and making it into a turtle shape. Dad's like turtles, right?

If you or your dad need to clear away the smudges on your phone, computer or tablet, why not make one...or a few? These definitely aren't fiber-free so they may leave a few bits of lint behind. But they are super soft and will wipe away dust and fingerprints.

Here's what you need:

Fleece
Cotton fabric
Felt
Thread
Embroidery floss

Turtle Screen Cleaner Template PDF

Use the 1-1/2" hexagon template in the PDF to make a hexagon (see my tutorial here). It seems a little strange to do this with fleece, but it works. Just make the seam allowances a little larger and be careful to avoid stretching as best as you can.

Cut a fleece hexagon that is just a bit smaller than the hexagon template. Cut a hexagon from fabric that is about 3/8" larger than the template. Center the fleece on the back of the cotton hexagon.

Lay the paper template on top of the fleece and baste the hexagon as you normally would.

Cut out a turtle body from felt, then remove the papers from the hexagon "shells".

Make a turtle sandwich! Place the felt body in between the shells, with their wrong sides facing.

Thread a needle with three strands of embroidery floss and stitch around the hexagon with running stitch, hiding the knots between the shell layers.

Can I just tell you that it felt very strange to make something like this and not put a face on it? It did. And yet, no face seemed like the right choice for this one.

Now this turtle is ready to rub his belly all over the screen and clean it up for you!

And now that I've made this little guy, I do believe that I need to make more screen cleaners, or maybe some other little critters that use fleece hexagons. They are just too fun, too soft, and too cute!