Laptop case

Well, this is a strange post to write. I lovingly made this case for one of the most important things in my life, the recipient of hours of my time and waking thoughts: my dear laptop. 

The second most expensive thing I have ever bought even with the staff discount my friend got me. But my word, it was worth it. I decided to make it a cover as I simply could not bear the thought of any little blemishes on its perfect body.

I made it a couple of weeks ago but did not have a chance to write a post about it. Since then we have been parted. And things have changed. I have been on holiday, camping and travelling and have not had time for my sweetheart. It has been so nice to get sun baked, eat a lot of sausages, drink surprisingly potent hot chocolate and sleep under nothing but stars and canvas. And be unplugged.

So it feels odd to be writing this ode to my laptop now. I know it is only temporary, an evening or two and we'll rediscover our spark. We just need time.

To make the cover I used this tenugui from Japan. I love the way it has been dyed, the thick softness of the cotton and the deep beautiful blue. I also thought the glasses print had a great studious, ocular feel. 

It was not big enough so I added some more cotton from my stash. The floral print came from here and worked perfectly. I used some old curtain lining for the padding, the really thick kind, essentially a plain blanket. This gave the cover enough padding and protection.

To finish it off I sewed the whole together and used red bias binding for the edges. For once I used the invisible hand sewing technique for binding, and I loved it. I had forgotten what a lovely way hand sewing is to spend a few minutes of your life. I did it the way shown in  sewing books: you sew it back to front on the machine on one side, then flip it over and use tiny invisible hand stitches on the other side.

Amy Karol has a great tutorial for the all machine way here, if the project had been any bigger I would have used that method.

Some well-placed velcro, a few zig zag stitches and it was done. What would have been great is if I had used red velcro, but there just wasn't the time.

But for now I am feeling happily analogue, grimy and brown. 


As long as I ignore the perfect storm of dirty washing, unpacking, empty fridge and tired children brewing downstairs.