Netbook case

Pattern Info

This project was designed by Tenar.
Info can be found at:
Pattern not commercially available

Difficulty:

Category: Quilting

Type of item: Functional

For: Home

Style: Casual

Materials

Quilting cotton, poly batting, perle #8 thread, flannel, velcro.

What was your inspiration?

I wanted to make something quilty for a dear friend of mine. She is always on the move, travelling all over the world, so a full-sized quilt was impractical for her. A netbook case turned out to be the perfect gift, and I had fun looking at other netbook cases on Etsy and eBay while developing my design. My friend listed her favourite colours, including orange and grey. These made me think of a stormy sunset, and sent me rummaging happily through my fabric stash.

The strap is messenger-bag length, so that the bag can be worn across the body. The netbook is a 10" model.

What are you most proud of?

Getting the size right when the netbook in question was on the other side of the world! I got halfway through and realised that it was going to be too small, so I ended up adding sides to it which I hadn't originally planned, and then working out how to sort out the strap and so forth. I've never made a bag before. It turned out to be the perfect size, and she can slip in a slim paperback book as well and then take her netbook with her when she pops into internet cafes.

Sewing on the velcro to fasten it. I loathe sewing velcro.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

It will be much easier if you can handle the netbook in question and make sure that it fits the bag. Failing that, get the measurements for that model and mock something up. I used cardboard packaging from Amazon, taped to be the right length, width and depth.

I used one layer of batting and apparently it does provide enough protection. For the strap, I put a couple of layers of cotton flannel in between the batik fabric layers, instead of batting, and did two rows of stitching for strength.

Velcro turned out to be the best choice for fastening the bag. A button or press-studs would have been easier, but we were concerned that they could potentially get pressed too hard against the netbook and damage it.

You can probably get away without sides if you are making a sleeve for a tablet or iPad, but for a netbook I would recommend adding sides.