Why oh why!? Laptop Hood / Screen pt 4
Did I listen to my mum! (mom for those outside the UK)
What a project! would I do it again? possibly with the right motivation, actually mum has asked if ill help her make one for her little Sony Vaio..
It does look good though, which kinda offsets the time that this has taken, over 5 hours of sewing, which for someone who hasn't sewn anything more than a button since first school (thats... err a long time ago..) is too much sewing!
So I'm guessing you're all wondering how its made? Alight then onwards..
First I cut the 3 pieces needed to form the hood. I used the dimensions as laid out below from the foam board left over from the hood I built for my 24in Screen.
Next I needed to use some of the black material I had left over when I blacked out the windows in my office. Mum took over for this and the first attempt at showing off and ripping the material failed! she was ripping the wrong way? I have no clue when it comes to such matters, but the 2nd attempt worked.
Having cut the strip into lengths the same as the height of the hood, I began sticking the fabric to the foamboard, I left a gap the same width as the thickness as the board.
The glue used, PVA.
Using a coarse brush I applied glue along the edge of the first side for the hinge.
After gluing both sides mum then suggested I stuck pins in to stop any slippage.
After I had both stuck it was left for 30-40 minutes for the glue to dry.
So with the hinges glued and dry, the next step was to put a covering "To tidy up the look" as mum put it. I would have happily finished at gluing the hinges on.. But mum thought it looked untidy. If I'd known it would take me 5 hours to sew it, I would have left it!
Again the glued edge was pinned to prevent slippage.
30-40 minutes later I returned and glued the bottom edge.
Then it was a waiting game again.. I was questioning myself again for listening to mum and her ideas.. but figured it was going to be worth it.
I returned 40 minutes later and cut the corners into the fabric (my scissor skills improving all the time) and then every 3/4 of an inch I cut a 1/2 inch deep slit into the corners to allow the fabric to follow the contour of the curve.
Then it was a matter of sticking it all down.. easy right!
After that was all finished I left the whole thing for a good couple of hours, and went and washed my hands.
Nearly forgot! the hinged section of fabric is cut away allowing free movement of the hinge. It is glued (to stop fraying) and cut at the glue.
Now comes the fun part. Another bit of fabric was cut nearly the same size as the last (a touch smaller). I am now a ninja proficient master at scissors..
And the sewing begins! (I forgot to take photographs once I was in the zone of sewing)
A curved needle is preferable as this makes it easier to sew close to the edge of the fabric and board.
3 hours in and I had completed the top and bottom edges and just the tricky curved sides were left. Pinning the fabric to the board in the shape was the easiest way of sewing the 2 pieces together.
So an hour or so later and I'd finished sewing the 2 sections of fabric together and I was pretty damn pleased with the finished product!
I was pondering the best way / easiest way to attach the hood to the laptop screen, I liked my original idea of using some more foamboard to make tabs to attach to the back. But mum was, "why don't you cover the whole back with fabric?". Wooah hold on here! im trying to make this useful and yet portable at the same time, mum just doesn't get stuff sometimes. So after a good 20 minutes of arguing back and forth she finally decided that my way was probably best..
With the hood on the screen, it stayed on with little effort needed at the top, so I decided to do away with the top strip. And just went with the 2 side strips instead.
Cutting the foamboard into two 3x2 inch strips, I used the same steps as with the hood itself to cover it with fabric. Each strip was then attached to the back of the sides, again with a ladder stitch (I doubled up the thread, and also doubled back for added strength)
The final step was to add the Velco (or Velcros as mum calls it, hehe). Placing the hood on the laptop, it was just a case of pulling the strip off the sticky and placing it on the back of the laptop and holding it firmly for a bit.
And that's it.. finished.. no more.. It gets a test run tomorrow morning, I'm going out for a shoot, and I'm going to shoot tethered.
LOL, oh yeah, don't forget to wash the brush off after gluing, or you'll end up with a useless brush!
What a project! would I do it again? possibly with the right motivation, actually mum has asked if ill help her make one for her little Sony Vaio..
It does look good though, which kinda offsets the time that this has taken, over 5 hours of sewing, which for someone who hasn't sewn anything more than a button since first school (thats... err a long time ago..) is too much sewing!
So I'm guessing you're all wondering how its made? Alight then onwards..
First I cut the 3 pieces needed to form the hood. I used the dimensions as laid out below from the foam board left over from the hood I built for my 24in Screen.
Next I needed to use some of the black material I had left over when I blacked out the windows in my office. Mum took over for this and the first attempt at showing off and ripping the material failed! she was ripping the wrong way? I have no clue when it comes to such matters, but the 2nd attempt worked.
Having cut the strip into lengths the same as the height of the hood, I began sticking the fabric to the foamboard, I left a gap the same width as the thickness as the board.
The glue used, PVA.
Using a coarse brush I applied glue along the edge of the first side for the hinge.
After gluing both sides mum then suggested I stuck pins in to stop any slippage.
After I had both stuck it was left for 30-40 minutes for the glue to dry.
So with the hinges glued and dry, the next step was to put a covering "To tidy up the look" as mum put it. I would have happily finished at gluing the hinges on.. But mum thought it looked untidy. If I'd known it would take me 5 hours to sew it, I would have left it!
Again the glued edge was pinned to prevent slippage.
30-40 minutes later I returned and glued the bottom edge.
Then it was a waiting game again.. I was questioning myself again for listening to mum and her ideas.. but figured it was going to be worth it.
I returned 40 minutes later and cut the corners into the fabric (my scissor skills improving all the time) and then every 3/4 of an inch I cut a 1/2 inch deep slit into the corners to allow the fabric to follow the contour of the curve.
Then it was a matter of sticking it all down.. easy right!
After that was all finished I left the whole thing for a good couple of hours, and went and washed my hands.
Nearly forgot! the hinged section of fabric is cut away allowing free movement of the hinge. It is glued (to stop fraying) and cut at the glue.
Now comes the fun part. Another bit of fabric was cut nearly the same size as the last (a touch smaller). I am now a ninja proficient master at scissors..
And the sewing begins! (I forgot to take photographs once I was in the zone of sewing)
A curved needle is preferable as this makes it easier to sew close to the edge of the fabric and board.
3 hours in and I had completed the top and bottom edges and just the tricky curved sides were left. Pinning the fabric to the board in the shape was the easiest way of sewing the 2 pieces together.
So an hour or so later and I'd finished sewing the 2 sections of fabric together and I was pretty damn pleased with the finished product!
I was pondering the best way / easiest way to attach the hood to the laptop screen, I liked my original idea of using some more foamboard to make tabs to attach to the back. But mum was, "why don't you cover the whole back with fabric?". Wooah hold on here! im trying to make this useful and yet portable at the same time, mum just doesn't get stuff sometimes. So after a good 20 minutes of arguing back and forth she finally decided that my way was probably best..
With the hood on the screen, it stayed on with little effort needed at the top, so I decided to do away with the top strip. And just went with the 2 side strips instead.
Cutting the foamboard into two 3x2 inch strips, I used the same steps as with the hood itself to cover it with fabric. Each strip was then attached to the back of the sides, again with a ladder stitch (I doubled up the thread, and also doubled back for added strength)
The final step was to add the Velco (or Velcros as mum calls it, hehe). Placing the hood on the laptop, it was just a case of pulling the strip off the sticky and placing it on the back of the laptop and holding it firmly for a bit.
And that's it.. finished.. no more.. It gets a test run tomorrow morning, I'm going out for a shoot, and I'm going to shoot tethered.
LOL, oh yeah, don't forget to wash the brush off after gluing, or you'll end up with a useless brush!
Comments
This week I'll find out how much neoprene is and will be able to start my next project :D