welcome to our holiday-inspired “bake, craft & sew along.” we will be baking, sewing & crafting up a storm, preparing handmade gifts for this holiday season. dust off your sewing machine, & head on over to skip to my lou for some fabulous sewing projects. a southern fairytale is spotlighting lots of edible yummies & holiday-inspired recipes you definitely don’t want to miss. & to check out ALL of our crafty & creative projects go HERE.
today, our fabulous featured blogger is heather from the amazing dollar store crafts. she’s sharing with us a craft that is of course “cheap, chic & easy to do.” heather writes…
Someone on your gift list has a netbook, so here’s a quick and easy no-sew netbook cozy for you to make for that person! This case folds up and stays together with Velcro. Kind of like placemat origami. With Velcro.
If you shop at the right stores, it will cost you a buck and change.
What do you need for this project?
- A fabric placemat
- Iron-on Velcro for fabric
- An iron
The sneaky part:
If you have access, you should stealthily borrow your recipient’s netbook so you can get the measurements right. If you don’t have access, try to sneak the measurements when that person isn’t looking (just mark them out on a piece of paper if you don’t have a ruler). If you can’t do that, try to get the make & model and then look up the measurements online later. If you can’t do any of those things, don’t worry about it. Just eyeball it and it will probably be fine!
For this tutorial, if I refer to the length of the netbook, I mean the longer side measurement, and if I say width, I mean the shorter side.
How do you make it?
Pick a placemat that fits with your recipient’s style. If desired, embellish the good side of the placemat before you begin (embellishment idea: add a stencil).
1. Lay placemat on table, good side down. Put 2 1″-long pieces of the scratchy velcro on the top corners. Put a long piece of scratchy velcro between the two small pieces. In addition, put two long pieces of scratchy Velcro pieces on the wrong side of the placemat alongside the width of the computer. (see photo)
2. Imagine your netbook is sitting in the middle of your placemat. Fold the bottom of the placemat up to where the top of the netbook would be (if you just have the measurements, add an inch to the width of the netbook’s measurements and fold the placemat up that far. Example: your netbook is 6″ wide, so add an inch to make it 7″ and fold up 7″). Put a strip of the fuzzy velcro near the top of the folded up side of the placemat. Then, put 2 fuzzy velcro pieces as long as the width of the netbook, along each side of the folded part, on the “good side” of the placemat.
3. Folding the placemat on the side like a present, temporarily stick these side Velcro pieces together, to the side pieces from step 1. Then, stick the 1″ fuzzy velcro pieces (left over from step 1) to the “good side” of the placemat, next to the long piece on the flap (see photo).
This is what the “good side” of the placemat will look like, laying flat:
4. Fix Velcro to case according to package instructions (mine tells you to iron).
To close the case, you will fold up the bottom flap, then fold the overhanging edges down over the sides of the netbook.Stick the side Velcro to the overhanging edge Velcro.Then flip the flap down and stick the top flap Velcro down to the front Velcro. Fold the sides of the flaps down and secure them to the small side Velcro.
Phew. Velcro.
If you find my instructions confusing, just refer to the photos. When in doubt, get your stuff out and make it. The instructions usually make the most sense in context. It’s hard to clearly describe how to fold fabric and stick Velcro. Seriously! But this is super-easy, and will take you about five minutes to make.
for more great ideas visit heather at dollar store crafts. she’s a wealth of knowledge: paper lantern how-to’s, pottery barn look-a-like stenciled decorator tins, even a placemat advent calendar!
about Heather: Heather Mann is the founder of Dollar Store Crafts and is a crafter, writer and mother of three little boys under the age of 4. Things that thrill her: innovative crafts that are clever and simple to make; spending less money; teaching people what she knows; and using up what she has (stashbusting!). She’s also the editor and publisher of CROQzine.com (a print magazine and blog about crafting and indie business), and is the founder of CraftFail.com, a blog where crafters can share their not-so-successful crafting attempts.
baking, crafting & sewing along at home? don’t forget to play show & tell… upload your photos to our flickr group HERE. follow along with all of our featured bakers, crafters & sewers on twitter HERE, & tweet about the holiday-ispired “bake, craft & sew along” using the hashtag #handmadeholiday.
