Knock-Off Party!

So, Wednesday morning I realized that my party is today, Thursday, and not Friday as I had been thinking.  I had switched it to Thursday so I could use Friday to highlight your projects.  I hadn’t even started on my project and thought I had at least two days to get it done.

Since that wasn’t the case, I had to start from scratch and get it all done in one day.  I had been perusing the catalogs for weeks, but hadn’t decided on anything for sure.  In light of my new laptop that I got Tuesday night, I decided I needed a tote bag to tote it around in.  Ballard was the logical place to look for inspiration, as they always have several cute bags.

Lo and behold, there was an actual laptop tote on the website!

Off I went to Hobby Lobby, got my supplies, and headed back home.  I tossed the fabric in the washer, then I had to drop Firstborn off at his homeschool PE class and go get my license renewed.  As I was sitting at the DMV, I got a phone call from the school nurse…Skippy was in her office with a fever.  By the time I picked up both boys and finally got home, it was 4:00 pm.  I had visions of being up until 3:00 am getting this done.  Fortunately, it turned out to be pretty quick.

I won’t make this a tutorial; I’m just going to reveal the final product.  Drum roll, please…

I used cotton osnaburg (kind of looks like linen) and lined it with a black gingham that I already  had.  The Ballard bag is made with a padded quilted fabric to help cushion the laptop.  I sandwiched a thin layer of batting between the two fabrics, so mine is also padded.  The Ballard bag has a zipper around three edges; I did not use a zipper, partly because I forgot to get one and partly because I didn’t want to mess with it anyway.

I enlarged the photo of the Ballard bag and printed it out, then used that to cut out my freezer paper stencil.  You can see from the above photo that I didn’t bother with some of the negative space or the number 15 that is on the original.  (I like typography, but for some reason the 15 seemed so random and totally unrelated.)

After you peel off the freezer paper, you get a sharp, almost screen-printed image.  Cool!

My little netbook fits neatly inside.

I even put a divider inside so my cord and mouse (I avoid touchpads when possible) have their own spot.

I can’t wait to see your knock-offs! 

Here are the rules:

• your knock-off entry must be made by you
• it must inspired by Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs, or Restoration Hardware
• you must include a picture of the original item from the catalog so we can compare
• it must be a specific comparable item, like my lamp shade, and not just a “this kind of has the PB look to it”
• you must link back to me in your post, preferably using my button code, which you can get in my right side column
• link to your specific party post, and not your general home page
• please be polite and visit several other participants and leave a nice comment

If you need more details, see this post.  Though I hate to do it, any entry that does not follow the rules will be deleted. I plan to do a highlight post on Friday, but I’ll leave the linky open all weekend for any stragglers.