Sunday, July 30, 2017

Mixed Media Fabric Lap Top Case

So excited to finally be able to share this project with you. It's been completed for a little while but only got delivered this weekend. Recently my niece asked if I would make her a lap top case - "Anything you make I love" ♥ So completely up to me for the design..... First a brainstorm - she absolutely loved my "On a Lark" fabric folder which I made a couple of years ago. 
This made me think that mixed media fabric book covers I've made would also be good inspiration : like this fabric bookwrap 
and I really love the cover I did for a friend's travel journal : Paris Book 
She is moving to Canada to study, so I wanted to theme my colours around NZ Paua shell - turquoise and purples - along with black and white, and I also wanted to use a variety of fabrics including sari ribbon, braid, ribbon, scrim etc. I took the measurements of her device and cut a large rectangle of black batting to make the cover AND a zipped case to hold her charger/earbuds etc. I won't line it, because the black will be nice and soft and I will stitch with variegated thread so even when you see the inside flap, it will look funky. Fun part - beginnings of gatherings ♥
This was my initial play and then I decided the black/white wasn't soft enough. I swapped them out for more creams and grabbed some more batiks. I included some extra meaningful fabrics like music, french language, and swirly sea...
Then I bonded iron-on interfacing to one side of the black batting and laid the fabrics down again before stitching with my signature free-motion swirl in variegated rayon thread on top with plain turquoise rayon on the back
Once stitched, I cut the large rectangle down to make the lap top cover, and the extra small rectangle will become an accessory pouch (earbuds, charger).
The swirly stitching left the edges unfinished - these will fray more with use and I hope she enjoys that. Click on any photo to see it larger
It's truly a mixed media piece. I printed the spots on some of the fabric above with metallic paint. After that initial stitched layer, I added other elements on top
To add the zipper to the accessory pouch I did a bit of a cheat and sewed it to the 2 edges using an ordinary seam (right sides together)
Then I added the edging stitch down each side. It worked just fine.
Then it was time to put the lap top case together. I used the same variegated thread to edge stitch
And I added a line of straight stitching inside the edge to reinforce those seams.
The main challenge was that with such a large button I had to find an alternative to my automatic buttonhole - the instructions HERE were very helpful.
Here are both the case and accessory pouch together
and some lovely close-ups 
I could have happily had this project continue to live on at my house, but I'm pleased to report it's been delivered, the device fits inside 
and she loves it ♥ I hope it accompanies her on many new adventures.

7 comments:

  1. This looks wonderful, Lynette! I like how the colours harmonize and I can imagine that it offers cushy protection for a laptop. It's also great for using up those bits and pieces of fabric you might have lying around!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I so enjoyed making this project and then seeing it finished. Might have to make another for me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is gorgeous! I've had the idea of making a cover for my Surface for ages, and now it's gone from a Round Tuit job to a Duit Now job. Thanks for the motivating inspiration. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome - it was a really fun project and I am delighted with the result.
    Send me a photo 😊
    Happy August L

    ReplyDelete
  5. Absolutely gorgeous and so interesting to follow the process. You put so much thought into it. Lucky niece. It will link her to home during her travels.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Absolutely gorgeous and so interesting to follow the process. You put so much thought into it. Lucky niece. It will link her to home during her travels.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a lovely thing to say - I hope it will make her think of home with happy thoughts ♥

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I will always respond to you so check back here in a couple of days.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...