email Youtube

Home
Galleries
Blog
Workshops & Calendar
Store
Resources
About
Contact

Notebook Cover Tutorial!

Notebook Cover, 5×8 Notepads

By Sarah Ann Smith © 2006

This cover will fit “mini” legal pad sized notebooks which are approximately 5 by 8 inches.

Supplies Required:

¨ Sewing Machine

¨ ¼” Seam foot (optional)

¨ Free-motion quilting foot (optional, if project will be quilted)

¨ Rotary cutting supplies

¨ The U.S.S.— the Usual Sewing Supplies: scissors, thread, pins, marking tools, etc.

Fabric and notions needed:

Because I like to mix and match my fabrics for this project, I have given finished dimensions for your total cover. You may wish to use three fabrics, one, or many….let your imagination run wild! If you want to, you could even piece blocks, strips or squares of fabric to make a decorative front panel.

¨ Batting: optional, only if quilting. 6 ½ x 17 inches.

¨ Sewing and quilting threads.

¨ Embellishments (optional): embroidery floss, beads, paint, sequins, you name it!

¨ 5×8 piece of posterboard, cereal boxes or something stiff to give body to the inside front cover

Measurements:

The image above is clickable to make it larger (and more easily read….blogger wouldn’t upload the graphics from the word document). If you have trouble seeing what’s on here and want the pattern, just e-mail me and please include your e-mail address in the text of the message—the new blogger stuff is making replying to posts almost impossible. I’ll send you the pattern in an attached word document file by e-mail.

Assemble your outside cover. As you can see from the three examples given, you can:

¨ piece mini-blocks set on point (the loon block from my Loon-y About Maine pattern),










¨ appliqué (the free-motion embroidered nautilus which was done on painted fabric, set on point onto frayed-edge accent square, set onto the center panel

¨ embroider a piece of art cloth with variegated embroidery floss and add beads (Deborah’s cover)

¨

and a zillion more ideas.

Keep in mind the 17 inch area which will be your cover when piecing or decorating your cover so that you don’t end up with a special part inadvertently rolling to the inside or over the top (unless, of course, that is where you want the special bit to be!).

Press ½” of each end to the wrong side and stitch.

IF Quilting: layer your 6 ½ x 17 inch piece of batting under the front and back outside portion. You do not need to have a backing fabric unless you want one, because this area will eventually be inside the book cover. However, if you don’t use a backing fabric (I didn’t) you may end up with a bit more lint inside your bobbin area which will need cleaning.

Quilt as desired…in my case, that always means a lot of quilting !

Or not…Deborah’s notebook cover is wonderful, and has only a little bit of batting inside the front cover to stabilize and pad the embroidery.

Fold the cover right sides together as follows. You may wish to wrap the cover around your notebook (right side out) and determine exactly where you want the three fold points to be: front bottom, top / spine, and back bottom folds.

Sew your side seams. Start with a ¼” seam allowance. Turn right side out and test the fit of the notebook cover. If this is too roomy, make the seam allowances wider and, if necessary, trim.

Turn right side out and press edges for a crisp finish. Use a blunt knitting needle or point turner to tease out the corner points.

Slide a piece of something stiff inside the front cover to make it easy to flip open and not-floppy. I used two pieces of cereal box carton, but posterboard or the back of a used-up notepad work well.

Slide your notebook into the back cover and use with pleasure! Celebrate with just a smidgen of chocolate!

This pattern will become part of a for-sale pattern sometime next year (I hope), so it will remain up on the blog until Epiphany, January 6th, at which point it will vanish. You are free to download a copy for your personal use at any time it is on the blog. Thanks for respecting my copyright and feeble attempts to earn a bit of a living from quilting…what a wonderful thing to be able to do!

2 Responses to “Notebook Cover Tutorial!”

  1. notebook tamiri Says:

    notebook tamiri…

    […]Art and Quilting in Camden » Blog Archive » Notebook Cover Tutorial![…]…

  2. repair sewing machine Says:

    We’re a gaggle of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community. Your site offered us with useful information to work on. You’ve done an impressive task and our whole group can be thankful to you.