The Cuben Fiber Laptop Messenger

With every project comes some kind of learning.

This recycling project was kind of long in gestation as it was fraught with all kinds of difficulties. The main one being I had to drive and hit all the fabric stores and all the haberdasheries in a 100kms radius to source all the whopping 27€ worth of materials needed to make it! I wanted to know what was available regionally and frankly it was a lot of trouble for not much. Next time I make one (I did put it for sale in my Etsy store), I'll order online.

Transparency was another problem, Cuben is see-through and a little limp so, I chose to back it up with white felting. I chose the zigzag stitch because it's a sail bag but, my sister who-will-wear-anything-I-send-her has asked for one and I think I'll try a little Chanel-like quilting with hers because I think it'll look good.

One of the things I chose to disregard in making this bag, it will be addressed in future editions, is the Cuben + felting turn of cloth, I cut the lining the same size it's not pretty. I'll have to cut and mark better as well, but that's not easy because I am using a sail, it has a shape so I can't count on the grain to help me visually. Cuben will destroy your scissors so don't take your good ones and have one of these little sharpening devices with you at all time. Cuben Fiber has absolutely no stretch whatsoever, this is why it's used in sailing and it makes it difficult to sew if you haven't been precise because you can't pull a bit to make it fit and iron it out, heat will destroy the fiber. I have to find another method to put in the piping as well, I don't like the result, but then I may need another kind of finishing ribbon altogether.

All in all though, I am pretty happy with this prototype and refinements will only make it better. You know what is the best thing about this bag though? It weighs just a little more than a pound. If we chose a lighter material than this black denim lining, I'm pretty sure we can come under it. This is pretty light for a waterproof, sturdy messenger.

Now I have to go buy a computer to test it myself!