Bag to Hold a Laminator

I bought a small laminator about a year ago. I wanted to make something to put it in to keep the dust off of it. I didn't need anything too fancy, just large enough for the laminator to fit inside. The laminator is not too large in height or depth, but it is long and none of the bag patterns I have would have been quite long enough. I knew I would have to enlarge a zipper pouch, but I wanted handles to carry the bag and a zipper closure. I didn't need pockets inside or outside. As I was searching around on Pinterest, I found a pencil pouch that had handles. I thought it was the perfect shape, but I would need to enlarge it and so that is exactly what I did!

The Pencil Pouch with handles is a YouTube video that is free from Sewing Times. I like her videos on making bags of all kinds. The pencil pouch she was making has a slip pocket on one side and a zipper pocket on the other side of the pouch. I didn't need a zipper pocket at all, so I decided to make the front and back of this bag the same with a slip pocket on each side. By doing that, the handles would be sewn the same too. If you watch the video, you will see how she uses 2 handle lengths and sews the handle on the zipper pocket side differently than on the slip pocket side. While I didn't need pockets, I thought a slip pocket might come in handy and looks nice. 

I did make the slip pockets using 2 fabrics and the lining fabric I folded in a way as to give it a faux binding look at the top, which I like. The back side looks the same, except for the Handmade label is only here on the front.

Zipper closure shown here.

Side view of bag. If I ever make another of these bags (in any size), I would topstitch the end grab tabs. They are just folded as per video instructions, but I thought they should have also been topstitched too, so I made a note of that.

The laminator and cord inside the bag. There is a bit of wiggle room at the sides and a bit more room in height. Better to have a bit more room than too little, right?😉

The bag is lying on the back side so that you can see it better in this view.

Changes I made to the pattern/instructions:

1. Enlarged the pieces by 70% so that it finishes about 14" wide x 6 3/8" high x 4" deep. The original pencil pouch finishes at 8 1/4" wide x 3 3/4" high x 2 3/8" deep.
2. Made the slip pocket with a separate lining to fold at the top as a faux binding and made a slip pocket on both sides.
3. Made the handles the same length and increased the width of handles to finish at 1" wide.
4. Added interfacing to all exterior and lining pieces, with fusible fleece to exterior pieces (except for the pockets and handles, grab tabs do not have the fleece).
5. Did not add the zipper pocket outside.

Thank you Sewing Times for your all of your wonderful videos!!!

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