Friday, February 26, 2010

Sewing a Computer Sleeve

As I was preparing for a recent family vacation, I was lamenting the absence of a computer sleeve for my netbook.  I went searching online, but kept asking myself if I really needed to spend the money on it.  The more I thought about it, the answer was "no".  I remembered batting that I had leftover from the Memory Quilt with Photos.  I also knew that I had a yard of lightweight denim in my fabric stash as well as some striped fabric leftover from some curtains I had made.

I didn't have a pattern to work from - so this is a "freestyle" project.  I knew I wanted it to have the main pocket for the netbook, a pocket that would fall inside the front flap to hold accessories and a pocket on the back side, outside the flap to hold my calendar, notebook for shopping lists, etc.

When I made the Mommy Bag I had worked with a bag pattern that had a pocket that ran around the outside of the bag so I used the same theory here.

I cut a large rectangle of the denim, batting and striped fabric that was a bit wider than the width of the netbook, and long enough to make the main pocket of the sleeve and the flap.  Then I cut a smaller rectangle of the three materials that was 3 inches wider than the first rectangle and about 15" long so that it would make the two outside pockets of the sleeve.

compsleeve1I sewed one ends of the rectangles and  turned them.  Then I folded in the edges of the flap and sewed it with top stitching.  Finally I pinned the two rectangles together and sewed the side seams together.  If you want a totally finished product, you could put bias tape over these seams.  I just stitched and trimmed.  Here's the finished sleeve:

compsleeve5

compsleeve4

I had some buttons around, so I attached them as closures for the flap.  With about two hours of work and materials I had on hand, I had a computer sleeve that was ready to go.

compsleeve3

This is part of the Sewing Show and Tell weekCheck the main post to link up your favorite sewing project or to get more ideas!

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