Upcycle a Tablet Cover With an Old Surf Kite

My husband has an iPad cover with build in keyboard that became sticky but is otherwise still good. Because he likes the cover, he asked me if I could wrap a kite jacket around just like a cover I made for his external hard drive and cables. Because a challenge is always fun I said: ‘Give it and I'll see what I can do.'

Old tablet cover

Old surf kite (or just textile)

Tailors chalk

Pair of scissors

Kitchen knife

Alcohol

Paper towel

Textile glue

Aerosol adhesive

Pencil

Paper

Masking tape

Wonder under (adhesive fleece)

Cardboard

Iron

Ironing board

Tape measure/ruler

Yarn

Sewing machine

In a warm climate, most types of skai and PU leather do not have a long life, but the lifespan is also limited in a colder climate. This tablet cover is made of PU leather and became sticky due to the heat so the top coat is damaged. At first glance it’s a case of garbage can.

I decide to take off the top layer first. The inside is still good so I don't do anything about that.

I remove the top layer on the outside by scraping off the layer bit by bit with the blunt side of a kitchen knife. Slowly the cover is starting to look better.

When the top layer is off, a textile layer remains, which I clean and make grease-free with alcohol. Then I put the cover aside and start on the new upholstery, I use fabric from a discarded surf kite.

Because kite fabric is very ‘slippery’, I first draw the dimensions of the cover on cardboard. This serves as a template for the fabric. I made the template a little larger (+/- 1cm) than the tablet cover for it is easier to glue the fabric when it is a bit lager than the cover.

Because kite fabric does not or hardly fray, the cut fabric doesn’t need a seam.

Surf kites have nice colors, patterns and reinforcements that can be easily reused.

I'm looking for a piece that I want to use and I want to add some extra accents to the kite fabric, so I cut some nice details from the leftover kite fabric, such as the size of the Kite: 13.5 and the word 'FLAT'.

After this I put the template on the kite fabric and mark the template with tailor's chalk and cut out. A surf kite has some thicker parts, for the cover I choose the thicker part.

I place the two accents on the fabric in such a way that when I close the cover 'FLAT' appears under 13.5.

13.5 Is a somewhat thicker Kite fabric and can be ironed on with a medium hot iron (synthetic setting) and I attach it to the kite fabric with Wonder Under (double-sided adhesive interfacing).

The word 'Flat' is the thin fabric and cannot be ironed on the synthetic setting because then the fabric will shrivel and if I set the iron a bit colder, the Wonder Under will not stick, so I glue this strip with textile glue.

I only use textile glue if there really is no other way because the risk of stains is always present and the glue, especially if the fabric is thin, can get through the fabric.

Now that everything is fixed, I finish it off with a 3-point zigzag stitch like the stitching on a kite.

To attach the kite fabric to the cover I use glue from a spray can, this works nice and clean. The only drawback is that you should not use it indoors (even if the room is well ventilated, the air will linger) so I spray the original cover outside. The fabric does not need to be sprayed with the glue I use (follow the instructions for gluing on the can). I use glue spray from Bison Kit.

But first before I start gluing I tape the inside with paper and masking tape so that no glue can get on the inside.

After spraying the glue. I cover the cover with the kite fabric. I make sure everything is pressed well and especially pay extra attention to the edges, these must be glued really well to prevent loosening. Remove the tape and paper on the inside and cut away excess trim.

The tablet cover is now ready for a second life!