Have you ever been given one of these little collections of 2½” squares? They're called “crumbs”, and they are often given out in quilter's goodie boxes or as door prizes… but what do you do with them?! Well, I had an idea! How about a quilted laptop case?
I laid out a patchwork grid, alternating the lights and darks, four across and five down. This was for a small 13” laptop, but you could make the grid bigger if needed.
Sew the blocks together into diagonal rows, then sew the rows to each other. I pressed all the seams towards the dark blocks in each row so they would nest.
I trimmed the points off the outside edges leaving a generous ¼” all the way around for trimming after quilting
I picked a cute navy plaid for the backing and cut a panel to match the front (about 10½” x 13½”).
Join the front and back panel, along one of the short sides, then quilt the whole piece with batting and backing/lining just like you would a table runner or potholder.
I quilted straight lines on the plaid side and did an orange peel style quilting in the blocks. Trim the backing/lining and batting even with the top.
Just to make sure of the size, I wrapped the quilted piece around the laptop and marked it about ¾” bigger on either side and 1” bigger at the top opening.
I cut a couple 1½” bias strips from my navy plaid and pressed one edge down ¼”.
I sewed the raw edge of these strips along the narrow ends that will be the zippered opening.
Roll the folded edge of the bias strip around to the front side and topstitch down.
Here you can see both narrow ends are now bound off.
I opened the zipper and placed the zipper tape right under the finished off edge (with teeth facing out) and topstitched close to the right edge to stitch the zipper in place.
Repeat with the other side of the zipper and the opposite bound off edge.
Turn the whole thing wrong side out, and pin down the two long edges. I positioned the zipper across the top about ¾” from the top edge.
Sew down each side, backstitching over the ends of the zipper a few times to make sure it's secure. Trim the excess zipper tape away.
Turn the whole thing right side out, and give it a good press. I added this little zipper pull charm that was in the goodie bag with the little crumb pack.
And, here it is… snug as a bug in a rug :)
Happy Sunday everyone,
Krista