You can make this case with either a ribbon tie fastening, or a slip-the-flap-under-the-thingy fastening. I ended up making it with both.
(Yep, that's a blog name change. "Pinfingers" was sort of a placeholder. I'll be sticking with this properly ridiculous video game reference from now on.)
I have an iPad, and it's like, pretty much one of the most useful things I own. I read books on it, I write on it, I work on it, I use it to listen to music and mad ancient radio plays. I definitely don't want it getting scratched or broken.
So I dropped a whole three quid on some pillow cases at a charity shop, and went to town with my sewing machine.
And sew so can you!
First of all, you have to cut the pieces out. Grab your fabric -- I used cotton for the outside and lining, and gutted the padding from an ancient broken laptop case for a bit of protection inside. You could use pretty much anything with a bit of thickness to it. The purpose is just to put some padding between your delicate device and the outside world.
You know the beautiful thing about this? You barely even need a pattern. You just need your iPad (or e-reader, or whatever) and a pen or piece of chalk. Washable pen is best, but sharpie or felt tip should also be fine, since you'll only be drawing on the seam allowance.
Put your device down on the fabric, and draw around it. Way around it. Draw your line a good few centimeters away from the edges of the device: remember, you are leaving room for both seam allowance, and the sides of your case. Your device might not be very thick but there is some depth there to allow for.
Here's a rough diagram/pattern thing to illustrate what I'm talking about:
This diagram shows the pieces for a slip cover. If you want to tie it closed instead, you don't need the thingy, but you will need a ribbon and possibly some strong glue.
ALSO! You'll notice that these pieces don't exactly match the photographed ones. That's because this was a project full of trial and error. Following the diagram will help you not make the same mistakes I did!
I recommend making the flap half as long again as the main part of the back. I made my flap quite short, and so I had to place my thingy higher than I wanted to, and even then the flap doesn't sit under it very well. If in doubt, go long.
Okay, so cut out the pieces and iron them. Except for the padding, don't iron that.
If you're sewing a slip cover thingy, fold the seams over and use the hot iron to press them into place.
And don't mind the decorative cardboard bits; they're an occupational hazard when you have a teething puppy.
Okay, now it's time to start sewing! Take the pieces for the back, and pin them together, wrong sides together. The two pieces of lining should be next to each other at this point. Sew around the flap. You can go a bit further if you want, but all we need sewn for now is the flap.
Turn the whole thing right-way out, so that the seam you just sewed is on the inside.
Shove the padding material in between the two sheets of lining. You might need to cut it down a bit more to make it fit inside the flap; that's perfectly fine.
The extra sheet of lining is there to make sure the colours on the outside aren't dulled, since my padding is this gross shade of grey.
Sewing time again! Throw down a line of stitching where you want the flap to bend over; this will help it bend in the right place, and also keep the padding from slipping out. To give it some extra stability, I went ahead and did a decorative zigzaggy stitch near the end of the flap.
Repeat the procedure with the top end of the front piece. This edge will be exposed every time you open the case, so you want it to be nice and neat.
Now put the front and back pieces on top of each other, right sides together. It's worth making sure they're nice and straight at this point.
If you're sewing on a thingy, place it in between the two sides so that it will get sewn into the seam. Fold the flap over to make sure the thingy is placed correctly. (I reiterate here that my flap was too short. If yours is longer than shown here, you're doing good.)
Now machine stitch that sonova!
Trim away the excess everything, and then turn your case right side out. If the seam is a bit gappy, you can turn it inside out again and redo the stitching as many times as you want, so long as your device will still fit inside. Shh, it's okay. No-one has to know.
Once it's the right way out and the seam is holding firm, you're done!
I was unhappy with the fastening, though, so I decided to add a ribbon to tie it closed instead. If you want a tie fastening, just take a length of ribbon, stitch one end firmly into the flap, and hot glue the other end to the front, about halfway down. (You could stitch them both, but I found it a lot easier to hot glue the second one, since the front is thick and annoying to stitch through.)
Cut the ribbon in the middle. Now you have two shorter ribbons. Tie them in a lovely bow, and cut off the excess, at an angle so that the ends don't fray too fast.
And now you really are done! Slip your iPad or Kindle or anything else into its new case, and carry it around with pride.
And whatever you do, don't let the puppy get hold of it.