$1.50 Laptop Case

Did I tell you Gerry gave me a present? He'd been socking money away in a virtual wallet somewhere, and surprised me with a shiny, red laptop last month! --squeal!-- Since then, I've been shopping around for a laptop bag or sleeve to protect my new toy, but none of them were exactly right. The cutest one, and the one I almost bought, was this flowery one from Built, but it's almost $30, and I just could not bring myself to do it.

So this is what I came up with instead. You might recognize the fabric from the camera case I made for Gerry a few months ago. I wasn't trying to be all matchy, but it was the only quilted fabric I had, so I went with it.

I thought it could use a little more padding, so I went to the thrift shop in search of something cushy to use for a lining. I was thinking maybe a fleece shirt, but none of them were quite nice enough, and they were all a bit pricey as well, so I ended up with this crazy flowered towel.

Let me tell you, Gerry is WILD about that lining! He thinks I'm a genius for using a towel. "It'll polish it when you put it away!" he said. I just thought it was cute, matched the denim, and added some padding. But if he wants to think I'm a genius...okay.

I think this is my favorite part. I'm not a big Velcro fan, so I used buttons and bias tape to make kind of an interoffice envelope closure. Winding the string in a figure eight to close those envelopes always sort of tickles my fancy!

In the end, instead of spending $30 for the neoprene sleeve, I spent a grand total of $1.50 (for the towel). The quilted fabric was given to me by a friend, and the notions were just part of the stash. Not bad!