iPad Case #2

Well if it wasn't apparent that I wanted an iPad before, it should be now! A friend of mine is in need of an iPad case, so I decided to try a new pattern. Although it took me quite a bit longer than the previous one, I'm thinking I like this one a little more. And hey - it was my first time putting in a zipper! I found the instructions here, but there were a few things that weren't 100% clear to me, so I'll try my best to explain them as I go along.

**Almost forgot! I used a 1/4" seam allowance for this project**


For this project I needed:

• 9" zipper of coordinating color
• Coordinating thread
• Velcro (although I hadn't added it yet at the time of this post)
• Outer fabric: 
• Back - 8 3/4" x 10 3/4"
• Front bottom - 7 1/4" x 8 3/4"
• Front top (I used a different fabric to mix it up a bit) - 3 3/4" x 8 3/4"

• Pocket lining fabric:
• Cut 1 - 8 3/4" x 10 3/4"
• Cut 1-  7 1/4" x 8 3/4"
• Cut 1 - 3 3/4" x 8 3/4"

• Inner lining fabric:
• Cut 2 - 8 3/4" x 10 3/4" (I used flannel so that the ipad would be against a soft surface)

• Strap and zipper ends:
• Cut 2 (strap) - 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"
• Cut 2 (zipper ends) - 1 1/2" x 2 1/2"

• Interfacing:
• Cut 2 - 8 3/4" x 10 3/4"
• Cut 1 - 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Phew! Cutting is always the hardest part for me. You'd be surprised how hard it is to cut a square...seriously.  First I made the strap. I fused the 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" to the wrong side of one of the strap pieces of the same size. Then putting right sides together, I sewed around both sides and the bottom, leaving the top completely open so I could turn it inside out. It looked like this:

Next, the zipper. The trick I learned from the blog I found this pattern on was genius! I took the two zipper ends and pressed the sides in to the middle so they looked like this:

Before I sewed these to either end of the zipper, I made sure to trim the zipper to 8 3/4". I then sandwiched the fabric around either end of the zipper and sewed a straight line across.

The zipper looked like this in the end:

Then it was time to make the front of my case. Taking the two top pieces of the outer fabric and fabric lining (3 3/4" x 8 3/4"), I placed them right sides together and sandwiched the zipper at the top. It's here you have to be very careful that the zipper is in the right position. You'll need it placed so that the front of the zipper is facing the right side of the outer fabric, or else it'll be inside out. I made that mistake and had to tear the whole thing apart to fix it! (The picture I have below has the pocket lining set to be the outside...that's what made it backwards! But I forgot to take another picture of the right way, so hopefully this will give you the right idea)

Using the zipper foot on the sewing machine, I sewed through the three layers - pocket fabric, zipper, outer fabric. Tip: Sew as close as you can to the actual zipper part. It'll look better if there's not a lot of the zipper fabric showing.

Once that was done, I opened the fabrics up and ironed them down on each side, so that the other side of the zipper was exposed and ready to sew the bottom outer and lining fabrics on.

Using the same method to do the top front of the case, I took the front outer bottom piece (7 1/4" x 8 3/4") and the bottom pocket lining piece of the same size, put them right sides together, sandwiched the zipper in between and sewed with my zipper foot. The completed front and back are pictured below:

I top stitched the front above and below the zipper to give it a nice finished look before make the back outer piece. There wasn't a lot to make here, just centering the strap to the middle of the front side of the back fabric, and sewing it along the top to keep it in place.

It's time to put the outer most layer of the case together. It was like creating a sandwich of sorts. First, put the outer back piece right side up, then add the assembled zipper front piece on top - right sides together. Lastly, put the inner pocket piece (8 3/4" x 10 3/4"), right side down. One by one it'll look like this:

The final fabric sandwich:

Pin around the sides and bottom, and sew along those 3 sides. Once that's one, turn it inside out. It's starting to take shape!

Now to make the inner lining of the case. After fusing the 8 3/4" x 10 3/4" pieces of interfacing to the wrong sides of my inner lining fabric, I put the two pieces right sides together and sewed around 3 edges - both sides and the bottom - leaving the top open. DO NOT turn it inside out. Leave it as it is at this point.

Almost there! Slide the outer assembled piece in to the recently assembled inner lining, so right sides are together.

 

Stitch around the top of the case, leaving about 3-4" open on the front side to turn it inside out. *Be sure to keep the pocket lining sides together when sewing around the top.* If not, you'll see the interfacing when you unzip the pocket. 

Flip the case inside out using the opening at the top, and push the inner lining in to the outer shell. So close! Top stitch around the top of the case and there you go! I didn't have any velcro at home, but once I get some I'm going to put a small piece on the strap and outer shell to keep the strap down and the iPad safe and sound.