DIY Fabric Book Cover

Last week, I was invited to attend this awesome craft workshop by The Crafty Hen, kindly organised by Hillarys Blinds and Joe Bloggers. I must admit that I’ve never been inclined to hand-sew anything as I would much prefer to use a machine to do all the work! Anyway, I went down to the Custard Factory in Birmingham. The Custard Factory used to be the location for Bird’s Custard but has since been redeveloped and are now occupied by creative and digital businesses, independent shops, cafés and bars.

In the workshop, we were taught two different crafts which were to make your own bespoke fabric notebook cover and a 3D bird.   All the six different lovely fabrics were provided by Hillarys Blinds which are their latest design.

Making a fabric book cover is very simple and straightforward and great for beginners. This craft requires minimal sewing and time. It take approximately 10 – 15 minutes.

To make this fabric book cover, you will need:

• Fabrics (52 cm by 34 cm if you are using A5 notebook)
• Needle
• Thread
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Buttons

Steps:

1. Lay the fabric pattern side face down and place the book on top.
2. Fold top and bottom longer edges to the inside so the total height is approximate 4 mm bigger at both top and bottom than the book. Run your fingernail along the fold to hold in place.
3. Place book in the centre and open front cover.
4. Fold fabric so raw edges touches edge of book. Run your fingernail along folded edge again and repeat the other side.
5. Fold again on the left edge side so the fabric is now overlapping the front book cover. Place a pin in to hold in place top and bottom. Repeat the same for the other side.
6. Add any decoration you wish using fabric glue, glue gun or stitches.
7. Stitch the 4 corner points where the folded fabric in the inside meets the fabric on the outside.

I love this simple craft as you could also make this fabric cover for any book size and it is reusable! My son is delighted with his book cover and wanted me to make more covers for him! Mmmmm….. he can wait!

Next we also made a 3D bird which we were provided with templates. This is a very lovely bird that I gave to my daughter. She is so proud of my sewing work that she took the bird to sleep in her bed!

I had an enjoyable afternoon learning new skills and at the same time, it was lovely to meet some of my blogger friends. Thanks to the organisers for this great afternoon.

Disclosure: I was invited to attend the workshop. Images used with permission.