DIY: Tablet Case/Cover

Earlier this year I got a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 for my birthday. I asked for this after seeing a friend with one and falling in love with it. To me, this is the perfect tablet and I wouldn't go back and change my mind. Kayennat has the Asus Transformer Pad. and she likes that, and while it is a good tablet,  it cannot beat my Note. I am not a big Apple fan, with my only apple product being a hand-me-down iPod from my dad, so getting an iPad was never in my mind. However all the lovely cases and covers sold in shops are all for iPads! This really irks me. But c'est la vie eh.

Thus, I decided to make my own! I love the one I have currently,  which is a blue faux crocodile skin case, of which Kay has the black of, both bought off eBay. I do however love getting my hands dirty and making stuff, so this is my DIY case.

I have scoured through Pinterest to look for inspiration on which route to take with this project. I found ones made from books, files, old cases, etc. I have decided to use a plain case for mine, as I want all the right sections to be accessible (camera, pen, lock buttons, speakers). When I finally get a Kindle, I will make one using a book!

These are the ones that I loved!

1. Mommy by day, Crafter by night   2. Dixie Mango   3. Sew In Harmony  4. Sew.Craft.Create

5. It's Always Ruetten   6. Come Together Kids   7. Tights & Tea   8. Catch up with Kaitlin 

What you'll need:
Plain tablet case - bought mine off eBay for £5
Scissors - I used a big one and a tiny one
Glue gun - with extra glue sticks, I went through 3!
Material
Pins
Paint

This is the material 

What to do:

To start off with, I unstitched the dress that I was using as the cover. Remember, reduce, reuse, recycle! I didn't have an unpicker, so I used a pair of tiny scissors with a sharp edge. This bit was tedious as I unstitched it all. I didn't want to cut any of the material up first as I didn't want to waste any material. 

After the unstitching was done I cut out one side of the dress to use, and the other side is for Kayennat to use as she wants. 

 After lying the material flat on a table, and putting the tablet on top, I cut around, leaving about 2cm free to stick down. I applied the glue and then folded over holding down till it was dry. FYI: using a glue gun is so much easier then glue as its simple to apply, and dries within seconds. 

 I folded over the material on the side where the tablet is and made sure it went into all the folds. 

For the empty side of the interior, I chose to have a plain white material that was the underlining of the dress. I folded over the lining to hide my dodgy cutting skills, used pins to keep in place and then used the glue gun to stick it down. I also added a circular bit of the embroidered bit of the dress to cover the dodgy glue work. 

After all that was done, I was left with the white of the case. This is where my bad planning came into play, so I didn't have many choices. I ended up painting it bronze so it fit with the material better. 

I also cut some of the embroidered parts of the dress into two stripes, and glued them to the exterior of the tablet. 

Now the interior didn't turn out exactly as I wanted, but I blame that on bad planning. I didn't really think all the necessary holes out properly before I started. I used a sharp pointed pair of scissors to cut the holes out after to allow some access to the buttons once the tablet is in. But still, I love how the exterior looks! 

The Final Piece! 

 

Tips for next time:
-> Do the interior first and always fold over the material from the exterior so there isn't a stupid harsh line. 
-> Plan out all the button hole and how to cover the area around it.

I hope this helps you guys! Good luck with making your own tablet cases. Do share!!!

Much Love, 

Nigar