I’ve fallen in love with composition book covers. I was already in love with composition books themselves and this just added a whole new dimension to the relationship
But I’d never actually made a cover myself until recently. The tutorial I’d seen had the flap pockets that hold the book created by sewing from the outside, so the stitches showed. I got it in my head to make one without necessarily showing stitches, then got sidetracked and forgot until a swap partner came along who I thought might like a one. I sat down to figure it out. To spot where I went wrong in any failures (there were 2) I took pictures. This means I took pictures of my success as well!
Here they are as part of a tutorial (ok, a little reading first, then pictures):
Cut your outer fabric and lining to the same size. Both should be big enough that they wrap all the way around the composition book when closed plus however deep you want the flap pockets and seam allowances on all 4 sides. Decorate the outside if you want. I did some diagonal stitching and sewed half of a loop of 1/4 ” elastic top to bottom to use as a closure and 1/2” elastic across the long way, sectioning the front to hold pens and pencils. I added some jewelry thingies too.
I don’t have measurements for mine because my outside fabric was shifty and rotten to work with (but otherwise perfect
) so I cut it bigger than needed. This is also why it looks so iffy in the in-progress photos. Rest assured I made it much neater once I knew it would work.
Take your outside fabric and iron back your side seam allowances so wrong sides touch. Then lightly press what will be the flaps so that the right sides of them are touching the right sides of what will be the outside, the “body” for lack of a better term. The right side of the seam allowance should be on top of all that, facing you. Do the same to the lining fabric. Pin lining and outer pieces so right sides of seam allowances, wrong sides of flaps and right sides of bodies are together. You should only see the wrong sides of the bodies when that’s done.
Whew, that was a lot! This next step is easier:
Sew top and bottom NOT THE SIDES. Sew all along the top. Remove from machine and clip threads. Sew all along the bottom. Remove from machine and clip threads. You should be able to reach in one side and come out the other.
Now reach in one side and come out the other, grab and pull: Turn the cover right side out!
Don’t worry, you won’t have 4 separate flaps. This is how it’s supposed to look at this stage. See how the seam allowances line up? Turn the flaps of outer fabric (the striped gray one here) so they cover the lining flaps (black).
Now sew those side seams up! I suggest a ladder or slip stitch.
Fold the cardboard composition book cover back and slide into the flap pockets of your new fabric cover. Voila!
Does that make sense to everyone? This technique can work for bags too. In fact there’s a tutorial here for that:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=317558.0I hope someone finds this useful.
