I made this album today , using materials on hand. It will be used for my Fiber-Fat book craftalong. However, it is a full-sized book. I intend to create stitching tutorial pages for students to refer to.
The cover board is a re-claimed art-canvas board. It was 11X17". I wanted it large enough to allow room for clear plastic document sleeves, if I decided to use them at any point. I also need to show samples of zippers, and other treatments, which require more than the 4-5 inch size most people are working with.
* The board is hard to cut. Use a razor knife to score the lines, against a metal ruler. If you have a fine blade, you can try a handsaw. I used large scissors, but it was difficult.
*After measuring the board, and trimming a narrow piece..1.5" wide,for the top, I covered the two pieces. The covering is:
Brown... cowhide
Burgundy... suede
*I drilled holes in the boards with my 1/4" drill bit. The holes in the leather were punched with a paper punch.Separately. Do Not trim the leather on the lines. You will need 1/2" margin all around for machine stitching. Trim AFTER it is sewn. If hand sewing, leave about 1/8" margin. It will be whipped over the edge. Do Not trim this if you are hand-sewing.
EDIT: There are a few ideas I have to help people using home machines:
You can use a denim needle, and your zipper foot to sew around the board. Just set the foot as close as possible to the board edge, without hitting it. with the needle. Also, Cow-hide will most likely be too thick for your machine. Soft suede or lamb, or pig-skin is better. Also, a plastic or TEFLON foot is better than a metal one. If you have it. Another idea is to sew three sides of your board, and turn, like a bag, slip the board in, then hand stitch the final edge. You will have to try to do this without spray glue. A little Tacky Glue can be used sparingly instead, around the edges. Be careful to use a paint brush, and go thin. It is going to soak thru if you put it on too thick. But, if you plan on gluing embellishments over the glue spots, then don't worry too much.
An upholstery fabric such as cotton velvet or Damask is a good alternative to suede or leather.*I used spray adhesive, one side at a time, and smoothed each side before continuing to the next.
*THEN... Using an industrial sewing machine, I put on a cording foot. The right side foot. I stitched around the board, and trimmed the leather.
* You can do this by hand with a leather needle, or use a thick fabric, one that the adhesive will not soak thru. Beware... this will hurt your fingers, but it can be sewn by hand. I'd reccommend a whip-stitch, in a decorative contrast.
*The holes needed punching thru on the second side. I used an awl for this. Now the cover is ready.
*I put some tape on the ends of about 1 yard of 1/8" wide cording. I wove it thru the holes to come up in the center, both ends, tying around one section of cord see picture. Later on I plan to set eyelets, if the board does not prove to be too thick. Otherwise, a little glue will secure the holes. as long as you make sure not to clog it up.
EDIT:Later, I decided I didn't like the tape, since it was going to be hard to deal with when the pages got thick. I used a pair of looped end jewelry wires twisted around itself to poke the cording thru the holes. This was just done temporary, as the cord was tied on thru the loop. If you want, you can finish the ends off this way permanently, by slipping the cord thru the loop, and stitching back on itself. Even wrap it a bit with your thread to be pretty. The wire was folded in half with the round ended jewelry pliers, twisted up and secured. Then, file the rough end of the wire to keep it from snagging fabric. Squeeze the loop you made on the ends a little so it is not too fat. This will be better than tape for the long term. You can always remove these wires when you are finished filling your book, and replace the wire with beads instead.
I will get a picture of ths up soon.**At this stage, you can fill it with anything you want.
Then, I cut a piece of felt into 4 strips, punched holes, and fastened paper hole reinforcements. These should be sufficient, for a time. I will try the eyelets later.I don't have them on hand at this time. The felt will allow me to set up some pages to be sewn in by hand, without taking the book apart every time. You can also use the sewing machine to attach the fiber pages, but out of the book. (OBVIOUSLY!)
*Finally, since this is a fiber book, I made a fabric cover page, and decorated the reverse of the cover.
*Then, I made my first "Sample" of a bias binding on a curved edge, with some fun embellishment. That's in trying to keep to the spirit of the Fiber-Fat-Book Craftalong.
***Now for the Pictures! First, the finished cover shot:
Here, the narrow piece of board is finished, I am choosing the leather for the large board. I wanted it to fold over. You can stitch all around if you need to.Choose the placement, and draw around the board with pen or pencil.Mark your holes thru the board. You will punch these out with paper punch. Do NOT cut on the lines!!! Leave 1/2" margin all around for sewing. This is important. Trim after stitching.
This is how it will look:( I am not showing the other half of the skin. Mark both sides at once.Now Glue, spray and smooth one side at a time, being careful not to get glue on front of leather.You can clean it later if you need to, with Goo Gone.
Here is the cord fitted thru the holes.
Allow excess cording until you have built the thickness of your book..
Now for the insides: first, the felt:then the cover, then the fun part of making the pages. The narrow red strips are the 4 layers of felt. You can use as many as you want. Or, you can just use paper!
Here's a close-up of my fiber page. This book will allow me to layer pieces in each felt strip.
And a final angle showing the fringe on the cover.
Thanks for looking! Comments Welcome!
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