Mixed Media Fabric Lap Top Case

So excited to finally be able to share this project with you. It's been completed for a little while but only got delivered this weekend. Recently my niece asked if I would make her a lap top case - "Anything you make I love" ♥ So completely up to me for the design..... First a brainstorm - she absolutely loved my "On a Lark" fabric folder which I made a couple of years ago. 

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

And I added a line of straight stitching inside the edge to reinforce those seams.

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.