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Reusable Notebook Cover using the BERNINA 380I needed a small gift for a friend, something that was cute and easy to mail. After MUCH thought, the lightbulb came on over my head, and I whipped up this cute little notebook cover! I will send a couple of refill notebooks with it, so she can switch the cover to a fresh book when the first one is full.
I started with one of these Moleskine notebooks, in the 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" size. Moleskine notebooks are really good quality, which enhances my gift!
I opened the covers and traced the outline onto cardstock, then added 1/8" to the width and length (so the cover will have a little wiggle room to ease it onto the notebook) and then traced the cardstock shape onto a piece of linen. This will be the front of the cover.
Next, I prepared the decorations for the front. I have used the alphabet program on the BERNINA 380 in
another project, but this machine has TWO alphabet fonts, and I wanted to try the second one, which produces larger, outlined letters.
I programmed the words "happy" and "notes" into the BERNINA, then stepped on the pedal and watched as the machine sewed them onto pieces of white felt. I really like the way these words look! I will save "notes" to use later.
I trimmed the felt so there was a 1/4" margin around the words, then used the pinking shears to give them a decorative edge.
I sewed the word "happy" onto a piece of dark blue felt, cut just a little larger than the white felt.
I'm not including a pattern for the cloud, because I know you can draw a cloud! I cut out my cloud drawing and traced around it onto white felt. Then I stitched the eyes (French knots) and the mouth with black embroidery thread.
I cut out two ovals of different shades of blue felt, and stitched them together as you see in the picture. The BERNINA 380 can sew through several layers of thick canvas, so these three layers of felt were a piece of cake for this awesome machine!
I wanted to center my cloud and word decorations on the front of the cover, but my sewing line (which I wanted to use as a guide) was traced onto the BACK of the front cover; so I marked the four sides with pins and flipped it over. Using the pins as a guide, I centered the decorations, pinned them down and sewed them in place.
To finish the cover, I trimmed the cover fabric so there was 1/4" seam allowance all around. Then I cut two pieces of linen for the flaps (which hold the cover onto the notebook) 6" x 6", folded them in half, and laid one along each outer edge of the front cover, with the fold toward the middle, as in the picture below.
On top of that I placed a piece of linen (for the lining), cut 1/2" larger than the cover fabric, and pinned them all together.
I sewed all around the edges, leaving an opening at the bottom. I trimmed the excess fabric, and turned it right-side-out with the help of a pair of hemostats. I pressed the cover, topstitched the opening closed, and I was done!
To get the cover onto the notebook, it's easiest to bend the book covers back like in the picture below.
This is so cute, I can't wait to try a few more!
