He had also ordered a wonderful wheeled laptop bag so that I wouldn't have to carry it through the airport, etc. Unfortunately, the first trip I made a while later, we discovered that the new laptop was wider than the case. Not good! I continued to travel with the old, ssslllooowww computer since it fit in the case.
With a trip looming in the near future, I finally decided I must take the new one as by now all my files that I need most of the time are on it and not on the old one! Alas, no case.
I had been meaning to make at least a sleeve for this laptop for some time and yesterday decided to get going on it.
I chose to use the leftover fabric from my ottoman slipcover that I told you about here and since the drop cloth fabric is so plain, a graphic to transfer. I found this wonderful vintage typewriter clip art at The Graphics Fairy. Do a search for vintage typewriter to find several versions.
I did put the graphic into Photo Shop Elements 10 and make the color cobalt instead of black and I flipped the image so that when I transferred it the Remington could be read. As I made this quite large, when I cut the image out of the transfer paper, I had to use my scherenschnitte scissors to clean up a few of the small white areas where "crumbs" of color lurked as I did not want to transfer the blobs of ink. Enlarging a piece of clip art can have some surprises you don't want!
I decided to put my blog header on the other side to further identify the sleeve as mine.
The two upper corners did not transfer as well as I would have liked, but there were no do-overs since I was using the last of the fabric. I think I did not iron the upper corners long enough or hard enough, one of the two!
To make the sleeve itself, I loosely followed a tutorial that I found here. As I had decided I wanted a layer of foam on each side, I had to adapt the instructions a bit.
I did like the zipper going around the corners -- it sure makes the computer slide in easier. This means less time at the airport to take it out and put it back in at the TSA security screening.
I cut two pieces of 1/2" foam the shape of the finished sleeve. The foam was from Jo Ann Fabrics and you buy it by the yard.
This was like putting the baby back in! I had to vary the instructions here to get the foam in. The tutorial called for leaving a 6" opening on the lining and that was not nearly large enough!
Then the bottom of the lining had to be hand stitched closed.
And here it is finished.
With the laptop peeking out -- are you surprised that it is cobalt blue?
See how easy it will be to take it out at the airport!
The zipper finish in the tutorial is very polished! Glad you can't see the chipped nails! Time for a manicure!
All in all, a nice project.
I planned to take more photos, but as I was trying to take some, I discovered the battery on the DSLR camera was dead! So grabbed my trusty little point and shoot -- TWO dead batteries! I finally grabbed the phone to take one of the photos and waited until this morning to take the rest!
You may have noticed that the zipper was gray and VERY long. I wish I could tell you where I got the zipper, but all I know is that I had 3 gray zippers this long in my zipper drawer. If all else fails, you can buy upholstery zippers that come in longer sizes. Of course, your laptop may not be 17" wide, so you might not need quite such a long one. I could have used a shorter one, too, but the longer is really nice!
Hope you enjoyed a peek at my new laptop sleeve. Now, I need a new wide tote to put it in. Too bad I used the last of the drop cloth or I'd already be cutting a newsboy/messenger bag. Hmmm, maybe a trip to Home Depot is necessary!
How do you carry your laptop or have you just bought an i-Pad for ease of carrying?
xoxoXOXOxoxo,
Lois
1 comment:
What a wonderful idea! It looks great! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
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