Ask CRAFT: Laptop Case Static and Straightening Bootcut Pants

Miss Fish in California writes:

I would like to make a laptop bag, but have heard that there may be some issues with static. I crochet and tend to use natural fibers. My idea is to crochet a large, flat bag in wool; and to tack it to a neoprene skin before felting it. Will this work to prevent static damage to the laptop?

This is a common misconception. Laptops are designed to handle and dissipate static electricity through a safe channel. As long as you’re not sticking the thing up to a Van de Graaff generator, a little shock now and then won’t harm it. You’ll see static warnings when you go to do things like add more RAM to your computer, because those chips and the exposed circuitry is sensitive to static, but when it’s al closed up, the metal bits that the shock goes to are most likely connected to the computers common ground, directing the static away from any sensitive parts. You could make the laptop case entirely out of wool if you want!

Photo from Flickr user Ara Alexis.

Bonni writes in:

Do you have any suggestions as to how I might taper my bootcut jeans and pants into straight leg? I’ve done it recently, but they seem to come out looking a little obvious. Mind you the result is still better than what we did in the 80’s which was sewing up one leg, over the crotch and down the other side.

What’s most difficult about changing the leg shape of jeans is usually the flat-felled seam found down one or both sides of the leg. You’re right to start with the inside, as the seams there are less visible, but you might consider taking in a bit on both the interior and the exterior of each pant leg to make it really straight, instead of veering off to one side. Here’s a nice Instructable on making flat-felled seams, which should help make the alteration less obvious, but you can also try topstitching your seam down with whatever color thread the rest of your jeans uses. The ones I’m wearing right now have a thicker, tan topstitching, so matching your jeans thread will make all the difference when trying to keep the original look. After that, throw them in the wash a few times to see if you can wear the seams in; some of jeans’ coloring happens after they’re constructed, which gets you those slight changes in coloration around the seams. Best of luck to you!

If you have a crafty question, send it my way! You can email me at becky@craftzine.com including just your question, or even images and video to go along with it if you’d like! You can also tweet your questions to us on CRAFT Twitter.