You’re back in the office, ready and eager get back to business and work yourself to the bone. Ok, so maybe not, but here’s a tid bit that is sure to put a smile on that dial come Monday morning. Not only will this little tutorial from Introvert's Introduction turn everyone in the office green with envy, but it’ll also keep your laptop safe and sound.
You’ll need:
- fabric cotton lining
- buttons
- scissors
- a needle and thread
- a sewing machine
Instructions:
- Cut out shapes: You will need four pieces of fabric and four pieces of lining total. Just trace your laptop on the fabric, leaving about 2.5 to 4cm of extra fabric around the edges so that the fabric is slightly larger than the laptop.
- Quilt pieces: Okay, it's not really quilting, but what you do next is you take two pieces of fabric and two pieces of lining, and lay the lining in the middle of the fabric, like a sandwich. Make sure the fabric is right side out, so that when you flip your "sandwich" you see the right side of both pieces of fabric.
- Then you'll go to the sewing machine and attach everything together. Choosing a zigzag line will sort of mimic actual quilting, if you just sew rows along the fabric. Don't worry about back-stitching; the ends will end up getting sewed over in the next step.
Once you finish one "sandwich," just do the same thing to the remaining fabric and lining.
- Piece together: Next you will lay the two sandwiches together with the sides that you want to be the outside touching each other (so the wrong sides are currently on the outside). Then you will stitch the bag together, sewing along the perimeter of three of the four sides.
- Hem: Now that you've sewn the bag together, it's time to hem! With the last side that is going to be the mouth of the bag, fold over the edges and sew them together (Make sure you don't accidentally sew the mouth closed!). Alternatively, you can hand-stitch this part to avoid stitching on the outside of the laptop sleeve by not having the needle go through the outside piece of fabric.
- Hem all the way around the edge. Then you can reach into your bag and pull it right side out!
- Straps: Just cut out your desired length of straps that you want (you will hem them, so shoot for a little bigger than what you want), and hem up the edges. Fold the edge so that you see a little bit of the right side of the fabric and sew, so that you will have a nice clean line that won't fray.
Alternatively with the straps, you can cut two pieces, put the right sides together, sew both long edges and one short edge together, turn the fabric right side out, and hand stitch the last end for a cleaner look.
- Add buttons! Mark the length of the button on your strap with a pencil (your line can be vertical or horizontal, depending on the size of your button and/or strap). After you cut along the line, make sure that the hole is big enough so that the button will go through, but small enough so that it can stay in place.
- Then you'll have to hem the edges of the button hole.
- Then on the front of your bag, you'll sew on the buttons and then button them to the straps.
- On the back of your bag, you'll attach the other end of the strap with a decorative button.
- Touch ups: Trim the edges to get rid of any extra material. You'll want to cut at an angle towards the inside of your bag so that no cotton lining (or very little) will show. (If you don't want any showing, when you are first making the sandwich, you can leave the lining out, put the right sides of the fabric together, sew three sides, turn it right side out, stuff the lining in, and hand-stitch the last side so that it will look even cleaner.)
At Fabric and Textile Warehouse we LOVE quilting. As such, we have a great selection of quilting fabrics, batting, patterns, etc. for you to choose from. Just give us a call for more info on what’s in stock and on special. Our Golden Number is 0861 322 839 | 0861 FAB TEX.
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