Day Fifteen: laptop bag redux

So I decided that I'm going to redo the laptop bag. It's something that I really want to use, and my first attempt was kind of shoddy. Sorry this is not a riveting new idea... what with all the reduxes and give-ups, I'm not accomplishing very much at all. But holy crap, you guys, I'm halfway done!

Materials:
- material (same stuff as last time, still from Value Village)
- ruler
- sewing machine
- some kind of insulator/protector soft stuff (I found mine in my garage)
- velcro

VERY IMPORTANT STEP ONE: iron everything. That Martha Stewart knows what she's talking about. Even though this project was not her idea, I am following her lead on the importance of ironing. (Speaking of Martha Stewart, I found out what stupid notching is. It's making little cuts in the fabric, from the edge of the fabric to the seam, so that when you turn it right-side-out the curvy bits are allowed to be curvy, instead of being restricted by the material. GENIUS.)

The next step, which is more important than I initially realized, is to make sure you have TONS of fabric. In my first attempt I only added a few centimeters to the measurements of my laptop, which made it a very snug fit when everything was finished. This time it's going to be roomier.

VERY IMPORTANT NEXT STEP: pin everything. That way it doesn't slide around all over the place when you are sewing. Probably this is common sense to most people, but I often don't get stuff until I've messed it up once or twice.

I didn't take a picture of the next part, but I sewed two of the corners of the soft stuff to the fabric. I decided that I'm not going to have the soft stuff in the lid-flap of the bag, just the body part to protect the actual laptop, so I'm not using a piece of soft stuff the same size as my fabric, as I did last time. Did that make sense? It makes sense in my head, and you can kind of see from where I pinned it in the picture above what I am talking about.

Then, in my final step for today, I sewed around three of the sides. I'm going to leave the last side until tomorrow, when I am also going to hand sew the rest of the corners of the soft stuff to the fabric.

I labelled it for you so you can see, because the thread is not neon and doesn't show up in the picture. Tomorrow I'm going to fold it up and attempt to sew it into a bag. Wish me luck!


Day Fifteen Highlights: almost done!, ironed fabric.

Day Fifteen Lowlights: being too lazy to finish this project today, having to start stuff over because it looked stupid before.

Tomorrow: laptop bag AGAIN. Hopefully for the last time.