A Bag for the iPad!

I've never been one for actually using a handbag, but when I saw this cute tutorial for a messenger bag I just knew I had to make one!

I have been thinking that a cute iPad bag would be just the ticket for school so that it doesn't have to be get shoved into the laptop bag and thankfully this one worked out GREAT!!

Now mine does look a little different, the tutorial is designed for a little girl so I lengthened the strap so that I could wear it as a messenger bag!  I also had real trouble finding something to make the ruffle out of so in the end I didn't!

Buttons I had so buttons became the embellishment of choice!

Now my button brainwave was to carefully glue down all the buttons with a little craft glue before sewing them on, I have done buttons before and taking them all off and then working out where they went back to was a real challenge!  

1. Layout your buttons until your happy!

2. Make sure to keep enough distance from the edges for when you sew the two flap pieces together.

3. Glue down the buttons, making sure not to glue near the holes you will be sewing through.

(The glue wasn't perfect a few buttons tried to pop off but most stayed put!

I didn't glue on the little buttons as I was careful not to glue in the areas I would be sewing through as the needle tends to get to sticky and then you can't sew anything!!)

4. Sew on your buttons, I used a cross pattern and started a the bottom of the design to try not to put to much pressure on the glued buttons!

5. Don't tie off buttons in-between, just move on to the next one until you run out of cotton!  I left long strings to knot later rather than turning it over as the buttons didn't like that so much!

I also used sweat shirting material to line the bag as I wanted a really nice soft layer to help protect the iPad and add a bit of padding!

Now if only I had taken the time to wash my fabric first lol!  The dye in this fabric is so strong I often had purple fingers just trying to work with it so the first wash will be interesting to say the least, but I still love it and I know I'll use it as many times as I can before I wash it just in case it loses all its shape and color!