This made me think that mixed media fabric book covers I've made would also be good inspiration : like this fabric bookwrap
and I really love the cover I did for a friend's travel journal : Paris Book
She is moving to Canada to study, so I wanted to theme my colours around NZ Paua shell - turquoise and purples - along with black and white, and I also wanted to use a variety of fabrics including sari ribbon, braid, ribbon, scrim etc. I took the measurements of her device and cut a large rectangle of black batting to make the cover AND a zipped case to hold her charger/earbuds etc. I won't line it, because the black will be nice and soft and I will stitch with variegated thread so even when you see the inside flap, it will look funky. Fun part - beginnings of gatherings ♥
This was my initial play and then I decided the black/white wasn't soft enough. I swapped them out for more creams and grabbed some more batiks. I included some extra meaningful fabrics like music, french language, and swirly sea...
Then I bonded iron-on interfacing to one side of the black batting and laid the fabrics down again before stitching with my signature free-motion swirl in variegated rayon thread on top with plain turquoise rayon on the back
Once stitched, I cut the large rectangle down to make the lap top cover, and the extra small rectangle will become an accessory pouch (earbuds, charger).
The swirly stitching left the edges unfinished - these will fray more with use and I hope she enjoys that. Click on any photo to see it larger
It's truly a mixed media piece. I printed the spots on some of the fabric above with metallic paint. After that initial stitched layer, I added other elements on top
To add the zipper to the accessory pouch I did a bit of a cheat and sewed it to the 2 edges using an ordinary seam (right sides together)
Then I added the edging stitch down each side. It worked just fine.
Then it was time to put the lap top case together. I used the same variegated thread to edge stitch
The main challenge was that with such a large button I had to find an alternative to my automatic buttonhole - the instructions HERE were very helpful.
Here are both the case and accessory pouch together
and some lovely close-ups
I could have happily had this project continue to live on at my house, but I'm pleased to report it's been delivered, the device fits inside
and she loves it ♥ I hope it accompanies her on many new adventures.