Themed notebook covers - a tutorial

I'm always looking for cute handmade presents, and themed notebook covers are my latest experience.

I have some more on the way, but this was this was the fist one I made (after a lot of mental planning), so bear with me through all the pictures.

Why am I calling it a themed notebook cover? Because the cover is supposed to match the print in the notebook. Confused? Let me talk you through it.

First, start with a notebook. You can buy one, or you can make one, like I did (with a picture downloaded from the net and some PowerPoint work). The main idea is for the notebook to have an image that you can replicate in the cover, in fabric, felt of any other way. I used felt because it doesn't fray and because, honestly, I love to work with felt.

Here is my notebook, with a colorful banner printed on it (please excuse the slightly wrinkled front page):

Cut a piece of felt bit enough to make the cover and still accommodate a pen:

Overall you will need two similar pieces of felt for the cover (same colors or different color, whatever you prefer), felt in the colors needed to replicate the picture in the notebook, a small piece of elastic and two pieces of ribbon.

Decide how you want your cover to look. I started by placing all felt pieces (in the same order as in the notebook) in the shape of a banner and then sewed them with black thread, to replicate the picture. You can use fabric glue to help keep the small pieces in place, but be careful not to place the glue where you are going to sew afterwards (learned by experience: glue and sewing machine needles usually don't go well together).

If your notebook is homemade like mine, you can give it a better finishing by covering the staples with fabric or matching felt:

(I forgot to add previously, but if you print your notebook pages yourself, you should add cardboard or thicker paper in the back and then staple it all together).

Now focus on the second piece of felt (which will be the lining of your cover). Check and mark the position of your notebook in the felt and cut an horizontal slit through which you can pass the back of the notebook.

Once you are done, you should have something like this:

Now mark the place where you want your pen to be and now cut two small vertical slits, just big enough to pass your elastic through:

Pull the ends of the elastic and sew them in the back of the felt, making sure the stitches don't show though the front.

Back: 

Front (lining):

Now pin both pieces of felt (outside and lining) wrong sides together, with one piece of ribbon on each side and top stitch:

 

And you are done!

This it cute either to keep in your purse or to give as a gift, with the advantage that you can adjust sizes as you see fit. I'll be making more  and coming back here to share. Let me know if you make one too and if you have any questions leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible.


Enjoy,
Teresa

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