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Made a laptop sleeve for my brother's birthday. Unfortunately his laptop just BARELY didn't fit. Measure 3x, cut once, and add an extra inch! Still need to punch the hole for the closure strap and give it away to someone. Overall outside dimensions 10x15 inches. Acadia Shellshock leather, Maine 0.035" thread, cotton flannel lining. A few more pics here: http://imgur.com/gallery/mSAJAYy

Hi there, I am inexperienced when it comes to leather working. Following reading some books and some advice I have a few tools (which seem to be super expensive) and some bridle leather. The thickness of the leather makes it a bit unwieldy and I think the advice was not as good in this area. Having just bought a new computer, a 13" laptop, I would like to make a leather "skin" for it. I propose to cut the leather so its a few mm larger than the computer and simply stick it to the case. This will provide plenty of protection from scratches and bumps etc whist providing some much needed expression of individuality. The thing is I don't know what sort of glue / fixing to use. From using google most people say I need to scratch up the metal to make glue stick which I do not want to do. Also, at the end of its life I would like to take off the leather, clean it up and sell the computer on... My thoughts are that there are some very clever glues now a days. When a credit card arrives for example there seems to be some sort of silicon gel that works paper to plastic. With a prepared piece of leather to metal...? So, can anyone make any recommendations or is this simple the wrong approach for this? Kindest regards, Nicholas

I was curious if anyone had any input on weights for a laptop bag / briefcase. I have a decent amount of 4/5oz shoulders and double shoulders on hand and a limited amount of 6/7oz usable material. This left me curious about a few different options: Would a 4/5oz 15" laptop back be sturdy enough alone? What if the gussets were semi-hardened? And is it possible to do so without leather stiffener? For instance, would a wet wash be enough? What about a combination of 6/7oz for the gussets and 4/5oz for the front/rear panels? How about doubling up 4/5oz (back-to-back) to make 8/10oz? — sounds thick and like it might require a lot of stitching Anyhow, I'm interested to see the responses as I've been watching YouTube videos and reading these forums for months, but haven't taken on a project this big yet.

It has been a while since I poster here since I have mostly been focusing on wood working. The other day I decided to do a little crossover project and make a wood and leather messenger bag. The gussets are made out of Ambrosia Maple. The leather is 5/6oz. Overall dimensions are roughly 12x15. This is a project for me, but I've already had a lot of interest in it. I may make a few more.

Here are a few things I have created recently. There is a Hair on Laptop/messengers bag, with zippered front panel that allows access to internal pockets mounted to the front inner wall, and storage for briefs and papers built into the zippered front panel, the lid also has a hidden panel with glove snaps for additional storage of briefs and papers, there is an internal pocket for a laptop (17" laptops fit awesome in this) and a rear storage pocket for books, or notebooks, with a final pocket on the rear wall to allow additional papers or briefs to be stored. LOTS AND LOTS of room in this bag. The hair on cow hide is in purple and black, and the sides are made of laminated pieces of veg tanned that have been dyed to match the colors of the hair on hide. I laced the sides with premium calfskin lace and did it in an Australian double loop stitch. The pencil bag is made out of the selvage of the hair on hide, and is a wide mouth design. The clutch is likewise made out of the selvage from the same hide and pairs very nicely.

Finished a Laptop bag for my sister.

Hello All, I am a web designer for a friend, TJ, who enjoys creating custom leather carvings. His gift to me, a laptop cover with a Les Paul, is one of his works that I consider to be his absolute best. His work expands beyond just laptop covers. He has created key chains, iPhone cases, purses, leather face clocks, and much much more (even moccasins!). His website, www.customleathercarvings.com, contains a photo gallery of his work and a page dedicated to explaining why he continues creating his leather carvings. He absolutely loves being asked questions! If you have some spare time and questions, please fill out the form located on the photo gallery page. Thank you for your time and support. Michael

Hi, Here is a laptop bag I made recently. Only the second bag I've made. There still are some faults but overall looks nice,I think. Manu (from Belgium)

Hi All, I'm totally new to leather working. I recently bought a new Macbook and was looking around for a nice leather laptop sleeve. After a lot of browsing, I didn't find anything I liked so I thought I would try making my own. Initially I was thinking "Oh, it's just two pieces of leather sewn together, how hard can it be?" and "If I mess it up, I can turn it into an iPad case.... then an iPhone case" and I figure it'll be a good skill to have to make more nice personalized items in the future. Well I'm working out the details now before I do anything and I see there is a lot more skill to it than I initially thought and I probably should have done more research before just going out and buying the materials based purely on the look I wanted. In any case I like this new challenge and I have a few questions that I'm hoping you could help me answer. One of the nicest sleeves I could find is made by Picasolab (picasolab.com). I'd like to emulate some their design but I'm not sure how to achieve some of it. I like how they incorporated a semi rigid frame. It gives the laptop some protection and makes it easier to slide the laptop in and out of the case. I've seen other flimsier/poorer designs that make it a pain to get the laptop in and out of. They have a few videos showing some of their process and features here: http://picasolab.com...king-your-case/ 1. What are some ways of emulating the rigidity? I've read a bunch of threads about hot wax, wet leather forming, interfacing, kydex, fiberglass strapping but it all seems like overkill and I would like to think that there is a more elegant approach. 2. The leather I have isn't as thick (about 1/2 or 1/3) as what they're using and I'm considering adding a middle layer in between my outer and inner material. Although it's probably asking for a different kind of trouble stitching through that, I'm thinking it will be required to be able to give the sleeve some rigidity. The outer material I have is a brown oily pull up and the inner material is a lambskin. What would you suggest for adding a bit more structure to the final product using what I have? 3. I think this is a bit more of a oops and just a fyi for the future but I left the material lying on the floor on top of each other overnight and it looks like the oil from the dark outer material may have transferred to the lambskin leaving some slightly darkened streaks on it both sides (outer and flesh). If I glue/stitch the pieces together, is it going to absorb more oil over time? Is there something I should do about this? It looks like I'll get to learn a lot about the various skills without getting too complicated in terms of shapes so I'm looking forward to getting going with this. Any help is much appreciated.

Just finished a simple laptop sleeve for my 15" Macbook pro. Fits like a glove! Let me know what you think. Sorry about the crappy pictures. I took them on my phone. -Nick