Saturday 14 January 2006

How to make a Pelorian Cat Bag for your new Laptop

STEP ONE

Go to best material shop in world, conveniently located about half-an-hour's walk from your house.

Buy:

1m shiny printed acetate taffeta, vintage 1960s probably
1m khaki ringspun denim for edgings and backings
1m black ringspun denim for actual bag
1m terracotta ripstop canvas with rubberised waterproof backing



plus a bit of black velcro and some wool wadding. Total cost of materials = less than $25.

You will also need some Pelorian Cat Rock Band patches. These are to prevent those embarrassing mix-ups at airports &c where you accidentally pick up somebody else's bag and vice versa.



STEP TWO

Make laptop bag out of above materials.

STEP THREE

There is no step three. The bag is finished now! Duuuuh!





It's black denim outside and orange inside. There are three compartments:

one at the front that extends the width of the bag, another at the back for books and junk, back section also has pockets


Middle section is where the laptop goes. Since I want to be able to use the bag without the laptop, the built-in middle section is just a kind of wide pocket with an internal flap that closes over it. The actual laptop has a separate padded sleeve which fits over it, the whole thing is then placed inside the bag. If the laptop isn't needed that day, the inner sleeve stays at home as well.



Like so.



Functional and um, pelorian.

13 comments:

Zoe said...

It totally rocks.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. What is this best material shop in the world of which you speak?

Fluffy said...

Nice try, Pavlov's. A dedicated shopper of the vintage fabrics is unlikely to go telling everyone where the secret cache of original 60s and 70s material is hiding.

Nice job on the bag! If you want to play with the industrial walking foot or the super binder let me know - Saturdays work for me.

Kirsty said...

Noice. You did this in one morning? Sheesh. It's/you're amazing!

BwcaBrownie said...

One day Ms Tartan will have her Definitive Time Management Manual published and make more money than John Grisham.
The bag rocks like pelorian rocks. xxx

lucy tartan said...

one morning? oh gosh no. Two evenings - long evenings.

Super binder, heh heh heh. Homemade bias binding is a fairly horrible experience.

About the material shop: I really did mean to link to it. It is called Darn Cheap Fabrics and it really lives up to its name. The acetate was $1/m. The thing is the shop is badly lit and they have a gauntlet of revolting floral polyester which one must run to get to the Good Stuff.

Ampersand Duck said...

Heh. Love the fact that your directions read like all those bloody coffeetable 'craft' books that show wonderful pictures with critical bits of the recipe missing. Actually, the critcal missing bits are usually 'skill' and 'talent' but people still buy the books :)

Fuck, what a bag. I love the fact that one day we will be able to walk into the same coffee shop/bar/venue and know each other by the matching Pelorian cats. You rock.

iqdfunrg. what more can I say.

The Student said...

That kicks ass, and well done getting a mac.

*admires the stylish whiteness of the eMac I'm sitting in front of now*

JM said...

that is awesome.

Phantom Scribbler said...

This is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I think I would like to be you when I grow up.

Anonymous said...

Best excuse to pull out the sewing machine so far this year!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shop name, I could have sworn it was the Cloth Shop in Ivanhoe of which you spoke. NOt full of vintage stuff, but still pretty good. Lovely bag, Laura. And congrats to you and Pavlov both on your Blog Award nominations.

lucy tartan said...

The Cloth Shop is good too. A lot more expensive though - and I have seen stuff lying on the $2 table at Darn Cheap suddenly reappear in the $17.95 box at the Cloth Shop. But their luxury fabrics are great & very good value.

thanks for the congrats - I'm chuffed to have been nominated - and highly amused to be nominated in the photoblog category given that I can't figure out how to focus my camera and make the very worst dodgy compressions ever!