Leather Case for The Bluetooth Keyboard

No, I didn't plan this to tie in with my CreateMixedMedia.com post about iPhone Journaling, but when I started exporting the photos to show you and thinking about the post, I realized it's all-of-a-piece. 


As you know, I have a love/hate relationship with journaling. I used to totally love it, but in the last few years, I've gotten away from it so far--so far, far away--that I can go weeks without ever touching my notebook. And I used to carry it EVERYWHERE--I never left the house without it. I'd get out of the car and go back in the house to get it, in fact. No more. Now I go days without even knowing where it is. It's a combination of things--mostly my fingers and the trouble with holding a pen and wanting to save my fingers for stitching. Mostly that. But also not wanting to have a bunch of stuff to take care of--I've started tossing old journals, trying to keep the collection down to what will fit on 1/3 of one bookcase. Partly not wanting to have something people want to look at--my notebooks have always been for me, not for public consumption. Having someone else look at them is like cracking open my skull and letting someone else look at how my brain works. Creepy!


So anyway, I'm becoming more and more reliant on the iPhone, and I think it's a good thing. It feels good. Although I have the old iPhone 4, without Siri, it still feels more and more like an assistant, like someone who's with me all the time, looking out for me and remembering all the things I never will. And then--and then!--reminding me of them. Which is like, whoa: all I have to do is make a note of something, and the iPhone will remind me half a dozen times, at set dates. I have things set up so I get email reminders starting two weeks ahead of time. FOR EVERYTHING. It allows me to relax and not have to keep checking notes and calendars to see what I might be forgetting. And since a lot of what I have to keep track of involves other people and their time, that's a concern. If someone has prepared for a podcast or interview for a certain time and I fail to show up, that's an embarrassment of the deepest sort (it's happened to me once, and I still am not sure, all these years later, what actually happened; I had it written down, but the other person swore I'd given them a different day and time). 


Anyway. So I use the iPhone for more and more, and one of the things that allows me to do this is the little Bluetooth keyboard. It lets me type lots of stuff in comfort, rather than trying to use that tiny iPhone keypad. I use it with the WriteRoom app, and it's fabulous. But the keyboard is a little fragile--one of the keys starting malfunctioning, and all I can figure out is that one of the cats stood on it at some point--I keep it on the bedside table, and although I like to believe the cats stay off, I know they have lives of their own when we're not here. We go to Starbucks in the evening; they have a house party. They probably invite the squirrels in for games of Parcheesi and Twister.


You may remember that I took the ailing keyboard to the Apple store in Dallas and asked the geek Genius there if they could fix it, and he laughed and said those keyboards are expendable, not meant to last (he didn't use the words "planned obsolescence," thank goodness, or I would have strangled him straightaway), which would have totally pissed me off except he then told me to go to the back of the store and get a new one off the shelf and bring it to him, which I did. He took my old one, handed me the brand-new one, and told me to enjoy it.


I was WAY impressed, as you might imagine. Sometimes you hate Apple, but most of the time, you gotta love 'em.


So. With a brand-spanking-new (and, really, it's not that big a deal because, I admit, I actually had two Apple Bluetooth keyboards--another one came with the iMac, but I've got it paired with the MacBook Pro--it gets complicated, really it does) keyboard, I wanted a way to protect it AND take it with me safely. When we traveled, I'd just set it on the backseat and grab it when I needed it. But it needed more if I'm going to take it to Starbucks, and I've been so happy with the leather iPhone case I made--the one made out of an old leather jacket we found in the dumpster behind the printing company that used to save paper for me--we'd always pull around to the back to load up with all the paper we'd then distribute to various organizations that needed paper, and one time the dumpster was full of clothes. Not dirty clothes, not icky clothes, but a bunch of clothes like, oh, someone had gotten particularly pissed off at her live-in boyfriend and had loaded up all his clothes while he was at work and had driven around until she found some obscure dumpster. 


Anyway: so I had all this leather, most of which I've used up. Not enough left for a keyboard case, but I did have this deer leather. And I had some really nice silk from an outfit--top and pants--I got for maybe $1 at the recent Texas Size [sic] Garage Sale to benefit Meals on Wheels.


So here goes: 

 Here we've got the keyboard, the silk top, the leather, and the batting. It's cotton batting, for quilts. I keep a ton of it on hand.

 I love this silk--metallic gold in there with all the fabulous colors. Originally I'd planned to have tassels of various colors on the sides but gave that up when I realized it would be a constant hassle messing with them. Not fully functional.

 I measured the keyboard. I hate measuring, but this is one of those things where you want to do it anyway.

 I cut two layers of the batting.

 Large enough to fold over and cover the keyboard entirely. I put a layer of fusible webbing between them and ironed it. You could use fabric glue--just something so they won't slide around.

 I ironed fusible webbing to the back of the silk. I use waxed paper to protect the iron and/or ironing board--there's always some hang-over of the webbing since, as I might have mentioned, I HATE to measure and so just eye-ball it when I cut.

 Fused it to the batting, then turned it over and mitered the corners and fused it like this.

 The front, all nicely solid.

 Measured the leather. I wanted to use the raw edges wherever possible, and I thought it was cool to have a little of the silk peeking out at the top.

 That's a shadow on the left, not a stain. Magnetic closure like they use for purses (purse aisle at Michael's or Hobby Lobby)

 Figured out where I wanted the inside and then used leather glue to adhere it. This stuff is messy, but I learned in my bookbinding days that other glue will not work with leather--when dry, it will peel right off in a lovely plastic-y sheet.

 OK--here's where I quit taking photos. I ran into Some Issues when I couldn't decide how to finish it. I thought I wanted a case, sewn up on the sides, that the keyboard would just slip into and out of. So I used a leather punch and pushed a ton of holes for sewing it up with leather lace. But then, after I did all that (which involved--omigod!--more measuring!), I realized that wasn't as functional as it could have been. If I'm going to use it when I'm out, wouldn't it be better to have the keyboard more stable, rather than pulling it out and sliding it back in? What if it were adhered somehow to the case, which would unwrap for use but would still hold the keyboard? So I cut off all those measured-and-punched holes and re-thought my idea.

 I have my regular wired keyboard for this iMac on a lapboard I made--The EGE cut a piece of plywood for me, and I wrapped it in batting and tie-dyed flannel. It fits in my lap, and to keep the keyboard from sliding around, I adhered it with double-stick tape (holds it in place but doesn't ruin anything). My mouse, with a top track-ball, is stuck in place the same way. So that's what I did here, using double-stick tape at the top and bottom. It may not stick as well to the silk as it does to the flannel. If not, I'll figure out some other adhesive. For now, it seems to be OK.

 I used one of the conchos left over from the fringed leather skirt-let apron thing (see it here) to cover up the back of the other half of the magnetic clasp

 I used some of the scraps to make a long leather strap to wrap around it horizontally, just for more security in case the tape gives way and it tried to slide out sideways. You can see where I punched a few of those holes.

 And here it is, ready to go: