Friday, June 25, 2010

Yards and Yards Original: Fabric Notebook Cover


This one was a super fast and cute project to do. I'd say it took about 30 minutes start to finish, and that includes my kids "helping" out.

One neat thing about this is that you can easily adapt it for a boy or a girl, depending on the fabric choice.

It's also an awesome gift because it costs a grand total of $3 dollars (or less since you have leftover fabric). I'm going to give you maesurements for the one I made, but it is super easy to adapt this tutorial. Here we go...

1. Gather your materials.

You will need:

Fabric A: 22"x 12"
Fabric B: 22" x 1.5"
1 Notebook (I picked mine up at WalMart for $1) I wanted one with a stiffer cover.


2. Center your notebook on Fabric A on the wrong side. Trace it lightly.




3. Iron in 1/2" on both ends. Then sew along the 2 shorter sides.

4. Make your ruffle. Cut your fabric 1.5" wide if you haven't yet.

Now for the fun part. Sew down the center of your fabric. about every inch or so, fold a bit of the fabric under itself to form ruffles. Do this to the whole piece.




5. Attach ruffle to your notebook cover.
This is the trickiest part and it's easy! Fold your fabric around your notebook right side out. Place it where it will be when it's all done. Then place your ruffle when you want it. Go ahead and wrap it around the back and it can go on the inside flap as well. Pin it in place.


6. Sew that ruffle.

I sewed my ruffle on about 1/8" away from my first seam. It just added that extra detail having the two parallel seams. No tucking or edge finishing necessary.


7. Sew the pockets.

Fold in your side flaps, right sides together. Fold them along your tracing line.

Now sew along all 4 openings. (2 on top, 2 on bottom). I put some lovely black dashes to show you where. Remember that those stitches should also be right along your original tracing lines.

8. Clip your 4 little corners.


9. Turn right side out and iron.


Notice how I just iron the loose fabric along the top and bottom too. You can tack these down by sewing right along them, but I don't think it needs it.

10. Insert your notebook. You can make a cute little pen to go with it or add a flower and a name. Whatever you want.


Enjoy! These would make a fun Idea Journal for you, a birthday gift for a friend, or a back to school gift for a child. I love these things!

PS. Thanks to these great party hostesses!

The DIY Show OffThe Girl  Creative Keeping It Simplemmm button
MakingSumo Sweet Stuff
All Thingz Related
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NightOwlCraftingThe Trendy Treehouse http://www.thethriftyhome.comMake it Yours @ My Backyard Eden

36 comments:

osovictoria said...

Thank you, my daughter in Portland always writes in a journal and like the decorated ones. I think I'll surprise her with a few like these.

Prior said...

Just darling, I love your fabric choices and the ruffles, you did a great job. Lezlee

The Autocrat: Haley said...

Oh I love it!! I have scrapbooking paper in those same prints!! Fabulous job and great idea!

Laura said...

This turned out so pretty! I can't wait to try it!

Anna said...

If you do try it, send me some pics at yardsandyards@gmail.com. I love to see what you guys come up with!

Michelle @ Sweet Something Design said...

Fantastic! Great project, love the fabric you chose!

Anna said...

PS. It's the New Cosmo Cricket fabric by Andover!! LOVE IT!

Sarah @ Hippie Mommie said...

SO CUTE! I'll have to try this soon! Thanks for the tutorial! :)

Michele {The Scrap Shoppe} said...

Very cute! I just bought some notebooks to cover so thanks for the tips. I didn't know Cosmo Cricket was making fabric now!! Fabulous!

Anna said...

The Cosmo Cricket line is called "Early Bird" if you plan on searching it out. Very pretty.

Kelli said...

This is so nice! I love that the notebook just slips right in. Thanks so much for the tutorial...I'm trying to learn how to sew and this project would be great.

Kaysi @ Keeping it Simple said...

So cute! I love how that turned out!

Anonymous said...

I so enjoyed reading through this. I collect notebooks with pretty covers, stationary, cool pens... it's no wonder considering I'm a writer. I sew often in-between all the blog baking and I'm going to make a few of these. I never have enough journals. Seriously. Found you over at Diana's (TGC). Happy Monday. =)

~Dawn

Diane said...

Love how these turned out. Thanks for the tut.

malia said...

this is darling... thanks so much for the tutorial!

Unknown said...

Very cute!! Not sure enough of my sewing skills....but I'll put it on my list of things to do someday!! One question: how did you make all the linky party buttons so small?? I've been looking for a way to do that, but I am sadly not very computer savy.

Alison @ Oopsey Daisy said...

Everything is better with a ruffle, and this notebook is fabulous!! What a fun way to upcycle a notebook! I love it. Thanks for sharing!

~Alison
http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/

Anna said...

To make linky buttons smaller:

1. I copy and paste them into the blog entry's HTML tab.

2. Co back to the compose tab.
3. Click on the linky picture and drag it to the size I want.

Hope this helps you and thanks for visiting!

Unknown said...

That is so cute!! I think I want to do that over the summer. They make such cute gifts. :)

Wendy said...

Found you through Anything Related Tuesdays...

LOVE this journal cover! How cute would it be to give someone with a matching purse or something!! And I love the coordinating pen you have next to it in the picture! :)

Unknown said...

Its beautiful! Thanks for joining us for another great Anything Related! ~Bridgette

McKell said...

I love this idea! Notebooks can be so boring & dull. Love that you covered it with fun fabric & especially added that ruffle, oh so cute!

*come take a look at my blog too if you'd like :)

Angie Holden said...

Lovely!!

Misty @Creative Itch said...

Love this!! Thanks for linking @Creative Itch's "Sew Cute Tuesday"!

NoDebtMomma said...

That's great - would make a great gift for someone!

Sam
Mom.Undecided.
http://momundecided.blogspot.com/
(Come on over - I'm hosting my first giveaway now!)

KimMalk said...

This is such a fun idea for personalizing notebooks. I have a girly, girl who would love this. I'd love to have you link up with Fabric Fun Thursday, too :).

Unknown said...

I am visiting from the Somewhat Simple link party. I love your ruffled notebook cover! It's so much more fun to write in a pretty book...I know my daughter will think so too when I surprise her with one of these! Thank you for sharing! I am your newest follower. I'd love to have you visit me too at www.misty-littlemonkeys.blogspot.com. :)

Anonymous said...

So sweet. Great job. Thank you for sharing!

Amanda @ Healthy House on the Block said...

Okay this is just too cute! I'm totally stealing this idea for a gift for someone. Thanks for the wonderful tutorial!!

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

This is a new beautiful take on covering a composition notebook. I love your fabric choice.

I would love it if you came by and linked up this idea at my first linky party for my month long Christmas in July homemade gift event.

Now I need to stay awhile and look around your blog!

I hope to see you soon.

Just Another Day in Paradise
www.zitzmanfam.blogspot.com

Leslie said...

I have seen this done with paper, but never with fabric. It turned out darling! Thanks for linking up to Hoo's got talent!

Anonymous said...

I love this! Great gift for adults and tweens/teens! My little girls would love this also...they love journals!

Join my link party ~ It's Party Time Thursday @PonyTails&FishScales!

terelauritsen.blogspot.com

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

Thanks for linking up. It made my day... I LOVE this notebook.

Hope to see your stuff linked up again, my next party is Friday.

Just Another Day in paradise.

NaptimeCraftMommy said...

Anna! These are GREAT!! This year the big push at my school this year is on writing. I will be making a fun cover for all of my teacher friends for their composition books!

Whims And Trims said...

SOOO cute! I just bought 8 of those composition notebooks at walmart cause they are on sale right now for 25 cents!!!! FYI!!! :)

Jaime said...

Just saw your link on A Bowl Full of Lemons. Can't wait to try this! New follower :-)
Thanks for sharing!