sleeve | little home by hand

After holding out for the longest time among my friends, I finally caved and got a smartphone. In my defence, I didn’t actually buy it, it was second-hand from a friend who didn’t need it any more. My friends are delighted that I finally have WhatsApp.
For me the draw of course was that I got to dream up and make a case for it. I knew I wanted to knit, not sew, one this time and thought about how I was going to do it, make it one rectangle or two, how it would look when I joined the seams and so on. And then I thought ‘duh, I can just make a sock for it and it won’t need any seams at all!’

I used some coarse natural wool I bought years ago, knitting two strands together to make it even thicker.

A super easy, quick project and somehow I love the rough natural look in contrast to the sleek and shiny phone.

I had been thinking about getting a tablet for some time. Seeing as I still don’t have a smartphone I though it would be a nice on-the-go addition to my heavy laptop. So when Lauren got one and made a lovely case for hers and gave me a ton of great advice I just had to get one too! And the first thing I did was make a sleeve cover for it of course 🙂

I got some inspiration online and wanted to make something easy but functional.
Here’s what you need:
– felt in two colors
– needle and thread
– a big button
– some elastic
– fabric paint (optional)

First, measure your tablet and determine the size of your sleeve (I recommend adding 1/4″ seam allowance at each side as well as 1/4″ at the bottom). Cut all felt pieces to the correct size and lay on top of each other in the color combination you like and sew on three sides.
I initially wanted to sew it together by machine but the felt shifts a lot and in the end it was easier to just stitch it together by hand.

If you sew by hand make sure you double your thread for more stability. Make sure the layers stay precisely on top of each other and do not shift.
Sew a button on the front and determine the length of your elastic (it will be sewn to the back side on the inside of the sleeve). If you want the elastic to be a coordinating color you can paint it with fabric paint.

Sew on the elastic and admire your pretty new tablet sleeve!

Now for the tablet: I love it! I got the Google Nexus 7 (like Lauren, but I really did read some tests and comparisons online and it was the best by far). It has email, facebook, pinterest and google reader and I just love coming home late in the evening and not having to get out the big laptop but instead going straight to bed and just doing some blog reading and looking at pretty pictures on the tablet.
I also got an app for taking notes and using MS Office, so I can work with it as well. I have small hands so the 7″ size is perfect for me.
I guess I just got cool again 😉