Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Problem: My new laptop is a big one — 17″ I think — so my old laptop bag was too small and I had to get a new one. It’s like a mini-suitcase so is quite bulky and heavy. The old laptop bag had an inner sleeve which was very handy in aircraft — you just pulled out the sleeve and you were ready to go without having to pull down the whole laptop bag from the overhead compartment. Not so the new one. No sleeve. And pulling this mini-suitcase down from the overhead locker is not a viable option.

Solution: I created a quilted laptop bag using some really nice Celtic fabric I had! Problem solved — I can now grab this bag out of the larger carry-on bag, and have ready the power supply, mouse, and even space for a notebook and pen… all without disturbing others and without ending up with the big bag on my head!

I adapted a pattern for a Tote Bag I already had from Michelle Pearson at Raggedy Stitches. I made it smaller, and didn’t do all the fancy piecing, though I did quilt the fabric. It’s fully lined and I adapted the front (lined) pocket so that I had room for the power supply, an A4 notepad, and a shorter and narrower pocket for my mini-mouse and a pen or two.

Here’s the finished laptop bag — click on each thumbnail to get a larger picture: