Okay, so it's taken me a year to get back to blogging! But I have a good excuse. Actually, I think it's a great excuse. I've been doing YouTube videos and making journals and journal pages, cards, tags and envelopes. I've put the link to the right of the screen; just click on the image there, which is some journal cards I've made.
But today, I wanted to do a "blog tutorial" of sorts, rather than a video, of how I made my antique lace laptop cover. Before I do that though, I want to give full credit to CRISSIE CROSSER, of Crissie's Attic on YouTube. Crissie did a tutorial that was just great. It was SO EASY to follow that I literally made my own laptop cover in about two hours! So please check out her two video tutorials, and I'll put a link below for you.
So, let's get started!
This is the finished cover! Again, this only took about two hours to complete, start to finish! Admittedly, mine looks completely different from Crissie's, but I followed the same pattern and instructions. My intent was to have a cover that resembled Crissie's "tattered lace" one. However, when I went searching for lace scraps, I came across this stunning lace table runner remnant. I've had it for years, so it was a pleasant "surprise" to be able to finally use it!
This is the reverse side. Isn't it lovely? How could I NOT use it?! And the really neat thing was that it was exactly the width I needed!! So this goes down in my book as "it was meant to be"!
The first thing you want to do is determine how big your cover needs to be. I just used an old piece of quilted fabric I had, which was thick enough to provide sufficient protection. Using my laptop as a guide, I wrapped a cloth tape measure around it to determine how much length I needed to go all the way around the piece (both sides), including enough to form a "flap" on the front, as well as how wide I needed. Then I cut my quilted fabric to those measurements.
I cut out another piece of medium weight interfacing the same size as the quilted piece. This helps add structure to the overall piece, as well as providing additional protection. Stitch these two pieces together around all four sides, leaving your edges raw.
I also like to "test" my measurements at this point, to make sure I have sufficient fabric. Math and I don't always get along, so I follow the old adage of "Measure twice (or three or four times), then cut once" (hopefully). In this picture above, you see that I've wrapped the two pieces around the laptop and I have plenty for a fold-over flap closure.
Because my table runner was only a remnant and not long enough, I decided to use two layers of lace. This would be a great way to use an old damaged lace tablecloth!! As luck would have it, I still had some of this lace (pictured above) left over. Believe it or not, this "lace" was originally a shower curtain that I found at Wal-Mart years ago! They only had the one piece, and I've used it in many projects over the years. To get the size I needed, I just laid my quilted piece of fabric over it, then cut around it, and included about an inch and a half over on all sides. I think using two panels of lace added to the richness of the piece!
I then folded the lace over the edges of the quilted piece on three sides (top and both sides), and stitched it down. I wanted to leave the bottom "fringe" visible, so instead of turning it down, I just top stitched the lace onto the edge of the quilted piece to hold it in place.
This is a reverse shot of the picture above. In Crissie's video, she makes it even easier by leaving all the edges raw, rather than folding lace over it.
This picture shows why I wanted to leave that bottom "fringe" showing. Isn't it beautiful? Even as it is now, it looks lovely. But wait.....we're not finished yet!!
I layed the quilted piece down flat, then pinned the lace remnant over the top. I then stitched all the way around the lace remnant. I also stitched along some of the major "decorative" lines on the remnant center, to ensure it wouldn't slip out of place.
Decide the placement of velcro if you want them, and stitch them to the upper and lower corners. HOWEVER, I have since removed these velcro pieces you see in these pictures because I determined that the flap was long enough to stay closed without the Velcro. And let's face it, it looked ugly! :-)
I then brought up the bottom of the quilted fabric piece, about two thirds of the way, pinned the sides together and topstitched them, creating an "envelope" for the laptop to sit inside.
This is the picture of the cover without the jewelry piece attached.
This is a picture of the reverse cover.
And this is a picture of the cover with the jewelry finding.
Here's a close-up of the jewelry finding. It's just plastic or perhaps resin, but it looks like antique ivory! I found it several years ago at Hobby Lobby and it had a round metal disc glued onto the back, for it to be made into a necklace. I removed the metal backing and, because it has small holes toward the end of the "leaves", I was able to sew it onto the laptop cover rather than glue it. I didn't want to ruin the fabric with glue if I changed my mind later and wanted to remove it.
NOW......
HERE'S A WORD OF WARNING!!!
Using old lace is very, very TRICKY!! Because it's VERY, VERY OLD, it is also VERY, VERY FRAGILE!! And must be treated with GREAT, GREAT CARE!!! How do I know this, you ask?
Well, here I was, pleased as punch with my "new" antique lace laptop cover. I had it displayed on my secretary (Furniture, that is; not a person!). I was SO PROUD!! Which of course was my DOWNFALL!! Some hours later, when I decided to look something up on the internet, I went over to said lovely antique lace laptop cover and, without thinking, quickly took hold of the flap and yanked!!
OUCH!!
😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
Said lovely antique lace laptop cover now had a large ripped hole in the bottom right edge!!!
I was heartbroken! I only had a very small piece of the remnant left over, not enough to redo the cover. So I mulled over it, cried over it, mulled some more, then added brooding to the mix.
It took me about three days to come up with what I HOPED was a solution. Using the very small piece of table runner I had left, I METICULOUSLY cut out the three remaining leaves and the two remaining "curly boot" shapes that just happened to still be a part of the design, then I glued them down over the torn place on the bottom right, as well as other places I considered to be "pressure points" or "weak areas". And here is the finished piece!
Compare this picture to the one below and see if you can tell where I added the additional pieces!
Look on the very bottom of the flap hanging down. No "curly boot" cut-outs on this one!
Now look just a bit higher, on both sides of the lower flap. No "leaves" on these areas either!
So the moral of this story is.......don't be proud!
Just be happy with the gifts God has given you and use them wisely.
And don't yank on old lace! It does NOT appreciate it one bit!!
Hope you enjoyed this "blog tutorial". I much prefer writing than talking in a recorded video. However, I also love watching and listening to videos too. So now I've done both!
Here's the link for my video "flip through" (not a tutorial):
And here's a link to the two videos Crissie Crosser did, which are tutorials (and fabulous ones at that!!)
Hope you have a lovely day and a FABULOUS weekend!
Take care and may God bless!
Jan
