Easy Outdoor Pillows

May rolled in like a hero and brought some fantastic weather. Off went the pants and on went the shorts! The city was flooded last weekend with legs and arms and all sorts of skin that had not seen the light of day since September.

Not to be outdone by the short wearing masses, I dragged out our daybed mattress and headed outside. Two minutes into my afternoon book and a cocktail on the daybed, I remembered the promise I made to myself to sew some new outdoor cushions. The ones I currently had were either too stuffed and hard or too empty and flat. I was Goldilocks in a house full of uncomfortable cushions. Continue reading “Easy Outdoor Pillows”

DIY Notebook Tool Roll

Hey, I don’t know if you’ve noticed the author name on this post or on the homepage but it’s not Kristen. Yeah, I know you don’t see the author name of El Granto here a lot. Frankly Kristen’s just better at it. But I’m here now and I’m all you’ve got for today, so you better like it! Continue reading “DIY Notebook Tool Roll”

DIY Felt & Leather Laptop Cord Pouch

Happy Friday! I’ve got a quick little project for you today. I promise to not take up much of your time, because WEEKEND.

Have you checked out the felt and leather laptop sleeve I made earlier in the week? After finishing the sleeve, I still had a ton of extra felt and leather, and opted to make a quick little pouch for my laptop cords and cables.

Felt and Leather cord pouch

For the amount of cordless devices in my life, I certainly have a hell of a lot of cords. All of which seem to be tangled into a heap. Why are cords like that? They go in all organized, and then you pull them out and they have gotten themselves all tied up it knots, like some weird cord orgy.

Not anymore cords! You will stay all neat and tidy in your little cord house. The pouch holds my MacBook Air charger and an extra iPhone charger. Huzzah!

Felt and Leather cord pouch

photo 2(9)

Here is how I made it:

The pouch is simply constructed out of one long felt rectangle (6″x11″). The rectangle is folded in half, sewn on each side, and then closed with a scrap piece of leather.

The leather has a snap on one end, and the other end is sewn to the back of the pouch.

photo 2(8)

Snaps are a lot easier than you would think. All that is required is a snap starter kit which comes with a punch, a setting tool and a little round piece of metal to hold your snap while you’re setting it. Follow the directions on the kit, and you are off to the races.

Installing snap

After the snaps were installed, and the leather strap sewn on, I topstitched the sides of the pouch with grey upholstery thread, and 1/4″ seam.  (TIP: use binder clips to hold the felt in place.)

photo 3(5)photo 4(6)

It’s a perfect accompaniment to my felt laptop sleeve.

Felt and Leather laptop sleeve and cord pouch

What do you think?

Happy Weekend!

SOURCE INFO:

Materials:
Industrial felt – 3/8″ thick – The Felt Store www.thefeltstore.com
Scrap leather – Designer Fabrics
Snaps – Designer Fabrics

Cut List:
6″ x 11″ piece of 3/8″ thick felt
2″ x 6″ piece of leather

Tools:
Scissors
Measuring Tape
Square
Marker
Round objects (thread spool, cup etc.)
Thread

Difficulty Level (on a scale of 1-5):

one out of five

 

Total Cost: $5

 

Disclosure: The Felt Store sent me a sample of their felt, with no obligation or compensation to post about it. As always, all opinions, typos and overuses of the word “awesome” are my own.

 

 

DIY Felt & Leather Laptop Sleeve

I recently started commuting to the office with a laptop. While having a laptop is fantastic for working remote, the actual commuting with the laptop was a bit of a pain. I was hauling it in a thin nylon sleeve, in a laptop backpack. If you have ever tried to ride a crowded subway with a backpack, you will know that it sucks. You have to remove your backpack (otherwise you hit poor strangers with it). This leaves you holding onto it. If you are a girl like me, you will also be holding onto a purse…and a coffee. This leaves me with one hand carrying a backpack, with my purse tucked under that same arm, and my coffee in the other hand. That leaves me exactly no hands to hold onto the subway pole. A week of this, and I almost tossed hot coffee onto innocent strangers and/or almost fell on my ass at least twice.

Sick of arriving at the office with coffee on myself, I took matters into my own hands and created a simple felt laptop sleeve.

Felt Laptop Sleeve

This felt sleeve offers a ton of protection to my MacBook, and allows me to toss it into a large purse for commuting to the office and client meetings. No more laptop bag or backpack!

felt laptop sleeve

Here is how I did it:

I have the 13″ MacBook Air. I took a few measurements, and decided a 14″ one piece tri-fold sleeve, with 1/4″ hems on either side. This would allow for easy laptop removal, but still keep my laptop nice and snug. I got some some 3/8″ industrial felt online from The Felt Store. I have never seen thick felt like this in fabric stores, so your best bet is to buy it online and have it shipped. I took a large framing square from my workshop (this may be a woodworking tool, but it is super helpful for sewing, leather crafting etc.) and squared up my piece of felt on two sides. (if you don’t start with a nice square straight piece, you will have a heck of a time marking out your pattern.)

photo 1(2)

I marked out a 14″ x 25″ rectangle on the felt using my square and a fine tipped felt marker. Using my big sharp sewing sheers, I used long smooth cuts, and cut out my piece of felt.

photo 5(1)

I wanted to add in a little hand hold for easy laptop removal. I marked a 3″ wide and 1″ deep notch into one end of the felt (on one of the short sides). I offset it to one side. Rather than having square corners for the notch, I used a small circle object (a pod from my Nespresso machine!) to trace a rounded corner. Using the sharp scissors again, I cut out the notch.

photo 2(4)

photo 4(3)

Using a larger round object (this time a drinking glass) I rounded the corners on the other short side of the felt, which will be the top flap.

I top stitched around the short side with the notch. Using my sewing foot as a guide, I top stitched 1/4″ in with grey upholstery thread, making sure to lift my foot at the 90 degree corners, and going slowly around the curves. I then continued to top stitch around the entire piece.

photo 3(2)

Next, I folded the notched end up 9″, and using binder clips, holding the folded end to the rest of the felt so it makes a pocket. I topstitched with the same 1/4″ seam down the side of the folded pocket, moving the binder clips as needed.

photo 3(5)

I did the same for the other side, and the felt sleeve is now complete!

DIY Felt Laptop sleeve

photo 5(3)

photo 3(3)

For closure, you could install a few buttons, snaps or buckles. I oped for a simple strip of leather tied in a knot. I purchased some scrap leather, and cut a strip roughly 1/2″ wide by 26″ long.

photo 4(1)

I cut the ends to a point on one end, and an inverse point at the other, and tied it around the sleeve.

photo 2(5)

Felt laptop sleeve

felt laptop sleeve

Not too shabby for a half hours work. What do you think?

 

SOURCE INFO:

Materials:
Industrial felt – 3/8″ thick – The Felt Store www.thefeltstore.com
Scrap leather – Designer Fabrics

Cut List: (for 13″ Apple MacBook Air)
14″ x 25″ piece of 3/8″ thick felt1/2″ x 26″ piece of leather

Tools:
Scissors
Measuring Tape
Square
Marker
Round objects (thread spool, cup etc.)
Thread

Difficulty Level (on a scale of 1-5):

one out of five

 

Total Cost: $25

 

Disclosure: The Felt Store sent me a sample of their felt, with no obligation or compensation to post about it. As always, all opinions, typos and overuses of the word “awesome” are my own.

 

 

Pergola Canopy

I did a whole hell of a lot of sewing last weekend. A marathon of sorts. I was adamant about getting the pergola and daybed finished by the end of the weekend. To accomplish this, I spent 13 hours sewing on Saturday. For realsies. El Granto helped too, measuring, cutting and installing grommets. What do we have to show for our work? Continue reading “Pergola Canopy”

NEW Outdoor Drapes!

We have new outdoor drapes!

Before I get to that, do you remember our budget friendly DIY outdoor drape project from a couple summers ago? They were cheap, quick and easy….but that’s about it. One summer of use, and they became stiff, riddled with mildew, and a haven for spiders. Awesome right? NOT! (FYI, I’m totally trying to bring back “NOT” as a hip thing to say. You with me?)

We took them down, washed and bleached them, only to have them shrink 12″ and still be covered with mildew. All in all, not one of my best DIY’s. I certainly got what I paid for. Aka about $50 (and most of that was spent on the curtain “rod”.) Continue reading “NEW Outdoor Drapes!”