Make a laptop cover out of a pillow sham.
With computers small enough to take with you on the road, it makes sense to keep them protected. Many stores sell laptop covers and bags, but these bags can be expensive, and you may want more protection than what a simple laptop cover has to offer. By using a thick or quilted pillow sham, you can make a simple, padded laptop case that is the perfect size for toting a portable computer of any size.
Instructions
1. Place your laptop at the bottom of the foam and center it. Use a marker to trace around the computer onto the foam. Immediately above the lines traced, prop the laptop up on its back, where the hinges are, so it lines up with the lines you traced. Trace around this side of the laptop. Finally, place the computer flat above the thin rectangle you just drew, and trace around the computer again, as you did the first time.
2. Draw tabs on the foam. Measure the height of your laptop closed. Then draw a tap on either side of the outline of the foam that is as wide as the measurement you just took and as long as the total length of the laptop, which is already indicated by the lines you drew. These tabs will look like tall rectangles on either side of the outline.
3. Cut along the outside lines of the foam.
4. Score, fold and glue the foam. You now need to bend the tabs up so you can glue their edges to the opposite end of the foam. Use a craft knife to carefully cut along the inside edges of the tabs until you are able to fold them. Then, glue the top of the tab to the opposite end of the foam so the result looks like a rectangular pouch or a foam laptop cover. Allow the glue to dry.
5. Place the foam cover inside the sham, centered. Use pins to outline the form of the foam cover inside the case.
6. Using the pins as a guide, sew the sham around the form of the foam cover. Do not sew over the foam.
7. Measure and cut the liner. Fold the canvas fabric in half and place the laptop on it, about 1/2 inch above the fold. Use a ruler to measure 1 inch around the laptop, excluding the area of the folded fabric, and mark the location with the fabric pen. Remove the laptop and pin the folded fabric together, along the inside of the lines you drew, and cut along the lines you drew.
8. Sew the liner along the sides, leaving the top open so you can place the laptop in it. Use a 1/2-inch seam allowance. Square the bottom corners of the liner by matching the seams to the bottom fold of pouch so it creates tips that look like triangles. Measure 1 inch down from each tip of the triangle and sew across the triangle forms at the 1-inch points. Cut the triangle tips off above the sewed seam.
9. Leaving the liner with the wrong side out, measure a 1/2 inch around the top of it, fold the fabric back toward you and pin in place. Use an iron to press the fold. Remove the pins.
10. Place the liner, which is still wrong side out, inside the foam cover that is still inside the pillow sham. Pin the top of the folded liner to the sham, avoiding the foam.
11. Sew the liner and the sham together along the pinned edge. Avoid sewing the foam.
12. With the bag right side out, pin the linen tape on either side of the pillow sham to form the straps of the laptop bag. Sew the tape in place using a sewing machine stitch that makes multiple stitches at once so the linen tape strap of the bag can support the weight of the laptop.
Tags: foam cover, pillow sham, either side, laptop cover, lines drew, along inside, around computer