Laptop Sleeve

In early February our International student (Jane) asked me if I could make her a laptop sleeve out of some Black/Red/Tan plaid I have a large roll of. I said “no problem it should be easy”.

It wasn’t this project kicked my butt for some odd reason. All I should need is the front and back pattern piece the size of the laptop a side piece the width of the laptop and put a zipper on the top, right?

I made my front and back pattern piece the size of the laptop – cut two outer fabrics and two lining fabrics from it:

I made my side pattern the width of the laptop and the length I wanted.

I wanted the zipper to come down the side on both sides a few inches:

Then came the real kicker: how do I get the zipper in there. First I purchased a zipper that was the width of my opening and then some, that didn’t work the zipper wouldn’t go around and into my seam allowance the way I needed it. So then I chose a regular zipper size and added bias tape to each side:

That worked, I have sewn and pulled this laptop sleeve apart 3 times.

Yay, I am more stubborn than it! I can now finally move on to my other projects. I’m a 3 or 4 work in progress projects at a time kinda gal. If I get to many started it just overwhelms me. What do you think?

~Sonia Barton