Craft Chi

I found this fancy, quilted pillow sham at Marshall’s on clearance for $2. I figured I could make something out of it. I had this foam around forever planning to make a laptop case from a slip (which I still want to do). But, it was just too easy to transform this pillow case. My husband pointed out that no one would expect a laptop to be in this bag (in case your worried about that). Anyway, here is my process. Please feel free to improve upon this (there’s plenty of room to).

Gather materials. You need:

- a pillow case sham (with the opening in the middle)

- strong scrap fabric for liner (i used canvas)

- a strap of some kind (again use something strong, i used linen tape, but you could use a belt or cut the strap off of a thrift store purse)

- 1 yard of 1/2″ thick foam from the fabric store

- basic sewing and craft supplies

Mark and cut the foam. First, place the laptop on the front/center of the foam (a). Then mark around the laptop with a Sharpie (b). Tilt the laptop on it’s hinge-end and mark the thickness of it (c). Then, flip it upside down and trace around it again. Finally, tilt the laptop on it’s side and mark the thickness on the sides to make “tabs” (d).

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

This is what the foam will look like after it’s marked.

Cut around the outside edges.

Score and fold the foam. Then, use a knife to lightly score the foam on the lines (a). Test to see how the foam folds. Keep scoring lightly until it folds well (b).

(a) (b)

Glue the foam, make a pouch. Fold the foam and glue to form a pouch. I found that fabric glue worked well as it sets up quickly.

When the glue is dry, test to make sure your laptop fits.

Position and secure pouch in pillow case. Remove your laptop and put the foam in one side of the pillow sham (a). Center it and pin around it (b). Then sew around it (c). This keeps the foam in place.

(a) (b)

(c)

Create the liner. Fold the liner fabric in half. Place the laptop about 1/2 inch from the fold. Mark 1″ around the laptop (a). Cut it out and sew the sides with a 1/2″ seam allowance (b).

(a) (b)

Now square the bottom corners of the liner. Match the seam to the bottom fold of the liner, creating a triangle (a). Sew across the triangle about 1″ in from the tip and then trim (b).

(a) (b)

Put it together. Now place the liner inside the foam pouch. Seams together.

Fold the liner back about 1/2″ and pin to the pillow case (not to the foam) all the way around the opening.

Sew around the pinned edge. This can be tricky. Roll up the excess fabric that will form the flap and work slowly around. Get close, but try to avoid sewing the foam.

Sew on the strap. Pin the shoulder strap in place. Sew it on directly or use D rings. Just make sure that wherever you place the strap, it will be stable with the weight of the laptop. I found that it worked best to put the straps on the outside/top of the bag. Also, I made sure to sew the strap on REALLY well. I sewed it like 3 or 4 times to keep it from breaking off and dropping my laptop.

Here it is all finished (this could definately use some pockets). Altogether, it took me a couple of hours while trying to take pictures.

Sneaker tread makes a wonderful stamp. Combined with a stencil and fabric paint, they add texture to any design and they also work great on paper.

First, print or draw design on cardstock or freezer paper and cut it out using a craft knife. Then, use stencil adhesive or iron the stencil onto fabric. Also, make sure to place a piece of cardstock inside the shirt to protect from any paint seeping through.

Next, use a foam brush or a paint roller to apply paint to the bottom of a clean shoe. Make sure to use an opaque fabric ink if stamping onto a dark t-shirt.

Stick your hand in the shoe (I didn’t do this, but it’s much easier) and stamp the tread onto the receiving surface. Re-ink and stamp again, until you have the stencil area filled in. You may need to use a scrap piece of card board to mask off the edges, depending the placement of the shoe.

Remove the stencil and heat set the fabric paint if needed. *Tip: I like to use parchment paper over the paint to protect my iron. It also allows me to dry the paint with heat.

I used a wet scrub brush to clean off the bottom of the shoes and the paint came off easily. This took me all of 15 minutes to complete, so easy and fun!

In response to a reader who asked “What do you do with the rest of it?” about my Vintage Bra Wristlet post, I came up with an idea for an eye mask. This was totally experimental, so I’m sure that the design could be improved, but I had fun making it, so thanks for the challenge Dulcet. It was kinda difficult to work out, but in the end I did what every good crafter does: resorted to using fabric glue and ribbon trim!

I tried to use as much of the bra as possible, so I used the remaining bust lace and one of the shoulder straps to create the eye mask strap.  The good thing is that it is adjustable, but you could definitely use some ribbon or something else (it would probably look better).

Okay, so here is a bra that I’d cut the ends of off for a bra wristlet.

First, I snipped the ends to remove the wires (one was broken which was why I had to stop wearing it) and then I cut in a slight curve up the middle of each cup. It’s a good idea to measure how wide you want the eye mask to be by holding the bra up to your face. (It’s okay to laugh at this point). It’s also a good idea to fold the bra in half and cut through both cups together so that your cuts are even (mine are not, but it’s all good.)

Next, cut the bra to the shape you want your mask to be. I liked the squarish type. But you can cut them more rounded if you like.

I also cut off the remaining bust lace and one of the shoulder straps.

This is how the eye mask will be put together.

This bra had many layers of delicate, stretchy fabric and a thin layer of foam. The then, stretchy fabric is difficult to manage, so I found the best thing to do was to sew a zig-zag stitch around the cut edges to secure all the layers. Then, trim the edges close to the seam.

Next, pin the bust lace to the side of the eye mask and stitch in place. Put wrong sides together, and position the strap in toward the eye mask, it will wrap around the trim . Do the same to the other side.

Next, measure a piece of ribbon so that it will wrap around the sewn edges of the bra, plus extra so that you can fold in the ends.

Glue and fold the ribbon ends in about 1/2 inch.

Next, cover the edge stitching on the mask by folding the ribbon in half over the edges like bias tape. Apply fabric glue to edges of the front and back of the mask and pinch the ribbon to secure it. Work small sections at a time. Once the edges are glued, go back and glue the corners with small dot of glue.

Trim out the other side. Once the glue has set, fold your straps out . Here’s what the mask looks like at this point.

Finish, by hand sewing one of the adjustable shoulder straps to bust strap pieces. Fold over the finished edge and then wrap it around the shoulder strap and hand stitch in place.

Bras make great vintage wrist bands because they have beautiful stretchy, soft lace and a built-in clasp. Here’s how I went about making one.

First, fold the bra inside-out and pin just before the strap.

Sew across the pinned area several times. Make sure to line the straps up well.

Cut the bra, just after the sewing line and before the strap.

Embellish how you like, with buttons, beads, or ribbon. I glued a vintage earring on that I’d cut the stem off of and sewed some seed beads and pearls on.