iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

Supplies Needed:
- 1 fat quarter (18 x 22 inches) for exterior
- 1 fat quarter for interior
- 1 fat quarter for pockets
- thread
- batting
- fusible fleece
- magnetic buckle, snap or velcro
- book board

Note: A quick note about using directional fabrics. Generally, in a fat quarter, a directional fabric
such as a novelty print, is oriented along the longer (22”) side. For it to end up facing the right
direction in this project, it needs to be oriented along the 18” side. If you are going to use a fabric
where this matters, you will need to buy 3/4th of a yard of fabric rather than a fat quarter.

Step 1 - Press Fabric

Have the cat press all your fabric (or do it yourself).
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

Step 2 - Prepare exterior

• Cut the exterior fat quarter in half width-wise so you have two pieces that measures 18 x 11 inches.
(Note, this is a directional fabric and it is oriented so the short edge is on the bottom)

• Cut a piece of fusible fleece that is 18 x 11 inches. Fuse this to the wrong side of your exterior fabric as
shown.
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

Can I use batting? Sure. Why not? Itʼs your sexy iPad cover, you do what you wanna do, uh-
huh (tip of the hat to Cartman). I used fusible fleece because it has a little more body than batting
and because itʼs fusible. If you use a standard batting, you will want to take the time to quilt
through the two layers at this point.

Step 3 - Prepare Interior

• Take your interior fat quarter and cut it in half width-wise so you have two pieces that are 18 x 11” Then
trim 1 inch off one end of each piece so you end up with two pieces that are 17 x 11”. These will be
folded in half (8.5 x 11”) to form interior. The folded edge is toward the center.

• At this point, you may need to take a minute to trim things up so that they are roughly the same size.
Not all fat quarters are created equal and we donʼt want things to get too out of whack.
Note: There will be bookboard inserted between the interior and the exterior to give the portfolio
a hard cover. I did not pad the interior pieces, but it may be something you may want to consider
doing, especially if you have a real iPad, and not just a fake one like me. This would be the time
to do it.

Step 4 - iPad Pocket

• We are now going to make a pocket for the iPad. With whatever fabric you want to use, cut a square
that is 10 x 10 inches.
• Fold the square diagonally, right sides together to form a triangle.
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

• Measure in 1 inch from left point. Draw a vertical line. Sew a sew on this line. Trim seam to 1/8th inch.

• Cut a piece of fusible fleece the same size as the triangle (do not include the sew allowance of the tip
we just clip off). Fuse fleece to fabric per manufacturerʼs instructions. Turn piece right side out.

• Align folded edge of right interior piece with the seamed edge of the pocket (Note: I screwed mine up
so it didnʼt quite reached the edge; yours should because I adjusted the measurements). Edge
stitch the left side of the pocket to the exterior piece.
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

Step 5 - Left, bottom pocket

• Cut a square 9 x 9 inches.
• Fold in half. Sew a quarter inch seam down the open side on the right. Clip the corner, turn and press
flat. (Note: I didnʼt pad this pocket with fusible fleece, but you could. The time to do it would be before
turning and pressing. Donʼt include seam allowance when applying the fleece.)

• Align the folded edge of the left interior piece with the seamed edge of the pocket and edge stitch down
the side of the pocket.
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

• For a pen/pencil pocket, sew a straight seam parallel to the edge about 1 inch away.

Step 6 - Left, top tissue pocket

• Cut a rectangle 9 x 5.5 inches
• Finish both 5.5 inches edges with a narrow hem.
• With right sides together, fold in thirds with finished edges overlapping about an inch.

• Sew a seam on both raw edge sides.

• Turn right side out. Press.

 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

• Pin pocket in place on left interior piece and edge stitch all the way around.

Step 7 - Left, top business card pocket

• Cut a piece of fabric 3.5 x 9 inches.
• Fold in half right sides together.
• Sew around all three raw edges, leaving an inch or so open for turning. Turn.

• Press, turning under raw edges of turning hole.

• Pin in place on left interior piece.
• Edge stitch around three edges, leaving top open.

Step 8 - Closure
I used a magnetic closure from a scrapbook store. If you donʼt want to use the same kind of closure, now
would be the time to stop and think for a minute or two about how you are going to attach it. Iʼll tell you
what I did with mine.
• I threaded the two ribbons through the loop on the end of the bottom piece of the closure. This is for
aesthetic reasons only; one piece of ribbon would be fine. I folded the ribbon in half to form a loop, then
basted in place of the interior right piece.
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

• I then pinned the closure out of the way so I could sew the interior and exterior together.

Step 9 - Sew interior to exterior (Weʼre almost done!)

• Lay your interior piece out like in the photo above.
• Lay the exterior piece on top of it with the right sides together.
• Pin together (ya, ya, I hate pins, too, but you will be happier if you take a minute to pin, I promise)

• Sew around exterior leaving an opening for turning. IMPORTANT! The opening should be at the
bottom of the portfolio in the center. We are going to insert a piece of bookboard for the spine in here
so placement of the opening matters.
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

• Clip corners, push out corners and press well.

• Sewing a straight line of stitching just to the right the left interior piece, and just to the left of the right
interior piece. This will form the casing for the spine. Make sure you backstitch at the beginning and
end of each line of stitching!

Step 10 - Finishing!!!
• For spine, cut a piece of bookboard 9.75 x .75 inches
• Insert into spine casing.
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

• For sides, cut 2 pieces of bookboard 9.75 x 7.75 inches

• Hand sew the turning opening closed. (You could do this with the machine, but if you did, I would
recommend that you edge stitch around the entire perimeter of the portfolio. I think hand sewing gets a
bum rap. Itʼll take you under 5 minutes and it will look more polished.)
• Insert one side bookboard piece in each of the pockets formed between the interior pieces and exterior.
 iPad Cover or Portfolio for Small Legal Pad

• One last thing to do and that is to attach the other side of the magnet closure. I inserted two pieces of
ribbon through the loop on the top closure piece, Cut it down to the size I wanted, and sewed it into
place by hand.

We’re done!!!!!!
Please let me know if you have any questions or need clarification on any of these instructions. If you
make one, Iʼd love to see a photo!