For a long time I’ve used an A4 jiffy bag to protect my laptop, it was effective and good camouflage! But sadly, over the years all the bubbles in the jiffy bag burst and it was no longer able to protect my poor laptop. I had secretly hoped that Santa might get me a laptop sleeve for Christmas, but that did not come to pass…(alas!). So I thought, why not make myself one?
The fabric:
I had some old jeans to make it from and I thought it would also give me an opportunity to practise sewing with heavy fabric. I also had some of the thermal fabric left over from the ironing board cover which I could use as the padding. One of the jeans had a nice back pocket, so I decided to use that to make a cute front pocket for my laptop sleeve and I had some plain wooden buttons to use as a clasp. I decided to use the contrasting fabric from the different jeans to create some geometric patterns and use some more of the beige fabric from the old duvet for the lining.
The pattern:
I based the main design on this helpful YouTube guide from Fabricdotcom (with a little bit of adaptation by adding the straps and buttonholes):
The challenges:
I soon realised that I couldn’t use simple straight seams with the jean material, otherwise it would become too bulky. So I decided to use flat fell seams. I hadn’t sewn these before, but with the help of my new ironing board cover, many YouTube videos and a bit of patience, I got there (see main vertical seam in the photo at the end). It took me a while to sort out the tension and I had to use quite a large needle (100) with the longest stitch length my singer can do.
Sewing the buttonholes was even trickier – my vintage Singer Buttonholer is a bit like the one below and it took me ages of fiddling to get the buttonholes straight. I also found it’s important to get the pressure on the foot right.
The final result:
I’m really pleased with my finished laptop sleeve! When it has the laptop in (as it does in the picture) it bunches up a bit and I can’t fit much in the pocket. But despite not being a perfect job, I’m happy – the old jean material is lovely and soft too. Now my laptop is safe and sound, and stylish.
The sewing resolution 
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