Fabric covered ideas book

 I'm a visual person.  I like making lists and planning things.  Sometimes I write these down, but more often than not I loose the scrap I've written on. This doesn't help with falling asleep at night, attempting to recall lists and plans somewhere from within my whirring brain.

On a recent op shop expedition for photo frames for Little Imp's room (I'll post about that project some time soon), I came across an unused notebook for 50c that I realised could do the trick.  A new cover to make it mine and I would have a place to jot and store my thoughts and ideas.

I'd had one of the Japanese-y pieces of fabric I bought a while back earmarked for a book cover of some description and a strip of thick linen from an upholstery swatch (also from an op shop) worked perfectly as a coordinating feature.   A very easy project indeed.

Here's how it turned out.

               

  

Basic 'How To'

• Use a hard covered bound book for this project.  To work out how much fabric you need, open the book flat on the fabric and mark leaving an additional 5cm all the way around (to fold over and secure on the inside).  If the fabric has a design you want placed in a particular area on the cover take this into account (e.g. I wanted at least 2 full birds showing).
• Cut the fabric to size using scissors or a quilting cutter.
• Cut a coordinating/ contrasting strip to use as a feature on the front cover.  I used a teal upholstery linen that I frayed by pulling out a few threads along each long edge.
• Work out where you want the coordinting strip placed and pin to secure it to the main fabric.
• Machine stitch the strip to the main fabric using a small straight stitch in your choice of coloured thread along each edge.  I also used my machine to stitch 'OneLittleImp' along the strip for fun.
• Then reposition the open book on the wrong side of the fabric.  Use PVA glue along the inside side edges of the front and back covers and stick the fabric down, pulling it taught across the book and spine as you do so.  Do not use glue on the outside of the covers as it will show through the fabric and ruin the finish.
• Before you glue down the top and bottom edges snip the fabric on either side of the spine to allow the fabric to sit flat when you fold it over.  
• Take care when folding over each of the corners to ensure you get a nice neat point. 
• Use the flat blade of your scissors and a bit of extra glue to poke the thin pieces of fabric left at the top and bottom of the spine into the gap between the book cover and binding.
• Measure and cut 2 pieces of card to stick over the fabric edges on the inside covers at the front and back of your book.
• If you want to add some ribbons as page markers, cut these at approx 1.5 times the length of the book and secure them in place under the card on the front inside cover.