This is my first attempt at making a leather case for the iPad. It’s also the first time I’ve worked with leather, so it’s kind of rough and unfinished, but that’s how I like it. Thanks to John Sanders from www.joxasa.com for helping me pick out the leather and excellent design advice.

I started this instructable shortly after the iPad 1 came out, but never finished it. This would still work for the iPad 2, and 3. The case really has proven to be indestructible. It's amazing how resistant leather is to wear and tear. No store bought, silicone, plastic, crap case would have lasted this long, while enduring this much punishment.

Step 1: Materials

Leather
Sharp scissors or very sharp knife (exacto)
Rubber Cement
Sewing Machine
2 Sheets of paper

Step 2: Cutting Out the Leather

The iPad is smaller than a sheet of paper, and since we want the case to be larger than the iPad, a sheet of paper makes a good template to cut out the leather.

You will need to cut 2 pieces of leather. One will be a large piece that is approximately twice the size of the iPad. The other will be just larger than the iPad itself.

Outside Cover (shown in red):

Place 2 sheets of paper side by side (long edges touching) on top of the leather. Use this as a template and mark the leather with a pencil or chalk.
Cut the outline made by the 2 sheets.

Inner Cover (shown in white):

Cut out another piece of leather that is the size of 1 sheet of paper. This will be glued and sewn to the larger piece, and used to hold down the corners of the iPad.
Cot out a rectangle in the center that aligns with the screen, but is just a little larger than the screen area.

Glue:
Using rubber cement, glue the two pieces of leather together around the border. It helps to mark the border of the iPad, and only spread glue in the margin. After the glue has been applied, assemble the front and back cover, make sure that they are lined up, place on a flat surface, and stack a bunch of heavy books on top. Let it sit for a while to form a strong bond.

Step 3: Sewing the Leather

Once the glue is set, sew all the way around the iPad border. The glue itself is strong enough to keep the front and back together, but I like the look and extra strength of the sewing.

Step 4: Trimming and Access Holes

After sewing all the way around, I ended up trimming off most of the front cover, leaving just the front corners covering the iPad.

Then, take an exacto, and trim the holes out for the switches, speaker, headphone jack, etc.

It really is that easy to make a nice leather case.