I recently designed and made this little laptop sleeve for my sister, and I thought some of you might like to make one for yourself (or someone else) as well!
I quilted the lining to make it cushy without it looking too crafty. Feel free to swap it around and quilt the exterior instead. I chose buttons (these happen to be vintage ones from my little button stash) after some discussion with my sister, but you might like some fancy metal hardware or velcro or even an elastic band that attaches at the flap and wraps around. I made a second version of this laptop sleeve out of coffee bags with a cute elastic/vintage button closure you might want to try as well.
Enjoy!
Laptop Sleeve Tutorial
Materials:
- Approximately 1/2 yard each of two fabrics, one for exterior and one for lining
- One piece of batting, approximately 18″ by 45″
- Thread
- Two buttons
Measuring, Calculating, Cutting:
1. Measure the height, width, and depth of your laptop, as indicated below.
The laptop I was using was 14 3/4″ wide x 9 3/8″ high x 1 1/2″ deep.
2. Calculate the width for your fabric and batting pieces (all the pieces will have the same width):
laptop height + laptop depth + 2(seam allowance) + 1″ (for ease)
I’m using a 1/2″ seam allowance, so for my sister’s laptop, that worked out to 9 3/8″ + 1 1/2″ + 2(1/2″) + 1″ = 12 7/8″.
3. Next calculate the length of the exterior piece:
2(laptop width) + 2(laptop depth) + 2(seam allowance) + 5″ (for flap) + 1″ (for ease)
For my sister’s laptop, that worked out to be 2(14 3/4″) + 2(1 1/2″) + 2(1/2″) + 5″ + 1″ = 39 1/2″.
4. Now we need to calculate the length of the main lining and the batting for quilting it:
2(laptop width) + laptop depth + 2(seam allowance) + 1″ (for ease)
In my case, this turned out to be 2(14 3/4″) + 1 1/2″ + 2(1/2″) + 1″ = 33″.
5. The last calculation is for the length of the flap lining and the batting for quilting it. This is easy, because it’s going to be 5″ for the flap, plus a seam allowance and 1″ of overlap (we’ll get to that later). So, it’s 6 1/2″, no matter what size your laptop is.
6. Okay, so now that you have your measurements, cut your one piece of exterior fabric, your main lining and flap lining, and the two pieces of batting for quilting your lining.
Assembly
1. Lay the main lining piece on top of the larger batting piece, and the flap lining piece on top of the smaller batting piece, and quilt in whatever pattern you like. You could even start with pre-quilted fabric here if you like.
2. Turn down one short end of the exterior fabric 1/2″ to the wrong side and press. Fold the exterior piece with right sides together so that the folded edge lies 5 1/2″ from the unfolded edge.
3. Lay the quilted flap right-side down on top of the exterior fabric so that one long side lines up with the unfolded edge of the exterior fabric and the other long side overlaps the folded edge by 1″.
4. Start at the end opposite the flap and sew with 1/2″ seam allowance along one long side, down the short side with the flap, and the up the other long side. This will sew the long sides of the exterior together and the flap lining to the flap. Trim the seam allowance around the flap to 1/4″ and trim all four corners to reduce bulk.
5. Flip the flap so that it is right-side out.
6. Fold the main quilted lining piece so that right sides are together and the short edges are lined up. Sew with a 1/2″ seam allowance up each long side. Leave the short end open. Trim seam allowances to 1/4″ to reduce bulk.
7. Turn lining right-side out and turn open edge under 1/2″ and press. You can baste this down if you don’t think it’s going to stay well enough.
8. Slip the exterior of the bag inside the lining. The exterior should still be wrong-side out with the flap right-side out, and the lining should be right-side out.
9. Line up the top of the lining with the top folded edge of the exterior fabric (remember where we folded that edge down 1/2″ earlier?). You can only do this on one side of the sleeve — on the other side you will need to line it up so that the edge of the main lining overlaps the edge of the flap lining by about 1″. (I think when I got to this part I was so eager to sew that I forgot to get any photos. But I think you’ll easily see what I mean by this point.)
10. Stitch around the top about 1/8″ from the edge to attach the lining to the exterior.
11. Turn the bag right-side out.
12. Mark and sew two buttonholes on the flap, depending on the size of your buttons.
13. Insert the laptop and mark where to sew on the buttonholes, then sew them on!
I made a little drawstring bag with French seams in these two fabrics for my sister to put her power cord in (also forgot to get photos of that before I mailed it off).
Voila! A snazzy snuggly little laptop case for you!
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That’s really nicely done Amy. Thank you so much for doing all that work. I’ve often thought of making one of these but get a little lazy when it comes to the math – so I really appreciate this.
Great laptop sleeve! I am definitely going to save these great directions. I already had fabrics picked out to make one but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Very cute! This certainly beats my plain black nylon cover.
Very nice tutorial. My lappy wants one.
Thanks for the tutorial! Yours looks awesome!
This is one of the most well annotated tutorials I have ever seen—it is so clear! Thank you very much.
Thank you for this tutorial. It’s one of the most detailed I have ever seen!
Thanks for the tutorial, it’s very well explained and clear! I think I may sew one for my me or for a friend!
Thank you so much for this beautiful tutorial. It is much appreciated. Exactly what I was looking for. Greetings from Germany
This is fantastic – the case looks great and the instructions are very easy to understand, even for a beginner like me. I love how all the pictures have labels and arrows and things, so it’s perfectly clear what’s what and where everything goes. Thank you!
Hi Amy!
[I speak not very well English (I speak French) so I'm sorry for the possible mistakes that I am going to do...]
Your sleeve is wonderful, bravo!! I just have a little problem. I don’t understand the sizes ( like 1/2″, 18″ or 45″) … perhaps it’s a silly question but what is the dimensions in centimeters?
I hope you can answer my question!!
Have a nice weekend
Caromiie
Amy — this is a fabulous tutorial, and I appreciate so much your amazing attention to detail. I am excited to try making these for Christmas presents. Everyone is my extended family is attached to their MacBooks (and now iPads) so this is a great gift idea. Finally — present I can make for the guys!
I love it. Wish someone would just make me one with patchwork love. I can’t fit it in right now. I’ll add it to my tutorial list for sure!
my poor laptop is so neglected…i just shove it in my purse. i’m so glad you did this….it’s on my list of things to do. thanks!
I made a laptop sleeve for my oversized laptop and it turned out beautifully. I hope to make one for my nieces high school graduation that is coming up!
Thanks for sharing this with us all!
Thanks so much for the awesome tutorial! I just finished making one for my sister for her birthday (she’s getting a new laptop from Dad but doesn’t know about it yet). Your instructions were very clear and easy to follow
I’ll post some pics on my blog later in the week. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for this wonderful tutorial. I just finished making my first laptop case. It turned out so well I think I might make a second one for a friend. Very clear instructions!
Brilliant!! Thank you for posting this! I did a very difficult laptop sleeve with zipper that I hated making…I’ll try yours next time, it looks very clear and smart.
Made this for my 17″ laptop over Memorial Day weekend, including a draw-string bag for my mouse, powercord, and other accessories, and a pouch for an extra battery. Had everything on hand: a striped linen remnant for the outside, a mix of solids and prints for the lining, batting for the quilted parts, and buttons from my button box (I used Velcro to fasten the flap – the buttons are just decorative). Thank you SO MUCH for sharing such a clever pattern and well-written instructions. I love it!
Hi Amy
thanks so much for all the work you did in making the diagrams, pics and instructions. One of the best pattern sites I have seen for such clear instructions.
Going start my sleeve now!
Thanks for a great tutorial! I was nervous about getting the dimensions correct – measure 10 times, cut once, I say! But this was such an easy project, especially with your very clear directions and detailed pictures. I made one for a friend in about an hour and a half. Next one (for me!) will take much less time. Thanks for the help and the post!
I just found this post and I love it. I am going to make one. What kind of fabric did you use? Thanks!
thanks for the pictures and instructions it made it so easy for me. finish my sleeve thanks thanks
Thanks for such a great tutorial! I am a very novice sewing (this was my 4th project) but a friend asked me to make a cover for her and I found this one and your instructions were super easy to follow. Thank you very much! I learned some stuff too! I’ve never “quilted” before and hadn’t sewn a buttonhole.
I’ve blogged and linked it back to you. Thanks again!!
This looks great! I love the fabrics you used. This is the next project i’m going to make and I was hoping you could tell me what type of fabric you used to make yours. I just want to make sure to get the right kind, thanks!
awesome tutorial! I made one for my brother who just started college using this and it turned out great! He’s going to LOVE it, THANKS!
I wanted to add though that at first when I was measuring I got the wrong dimensions because on the apple website (where I went to look up the measurements for the laptop my brother has) what you refer to as height they call depth and vis-versa. In case anyone else goes to the apple site to figure out their laptop dimensions I wanted to mention this difference to avoid further confusion.