Cute Book Cover / Dust Jacket tutorial!

So last night I fell asleep thinking 'I must read more...' and then I dreamt that I made this! So then when I woke up I had to make this cute book cover. The main idea is that it's like a copy book page and you can write whatever you want on it! Nobody will be able to see what you're reading and it will keep your book safe and warm! If you like you can write 'Ulysses' or 'Advanced Arabic Arithmatic' or 'The Lord of the Rings:  The Klingon Translation'. Your friends will be so impressed!

The only things you will need for this is a book, fabric, thread, a pencil, a permanent (or fabric) marker and also probably a ruler but I couldn't find one anywhere today.

1. Open your book out and place it on the fabric. You can fold the fabric around the book to see what size it should be. Leave a few cm's around the top and bottom of the book, as you will be folding and sewing this down.Fold down the fabric about 1cm all around the edges. Iron it and sew it down.

2. Fold the fabric in half and using your book as a guide decide where to put your 'lined page'.

3. This is where a ruler comes in handy! Draw your lines very lightly in pencil.

4.Sew over the horizontal lines with blue thread and sew over the vertical line with red thread. I decided whilst doing  the third line that it's ok if they don't look perfect! It is a great way to practice sewing in straight lines.

5. Sit your book over the cover and size it up. Where is the best place to fold it? Decide and then iron the folds in place.

6. Sew the top edge first and check to see how your book sits before you sew the bottom edges.  Make sure your book fits snuggly, you don't want if falling off so that everyone on the bus finds out that you're reading Pride and Prejudice...again.

7. Then you can leave it plain, which looks quite nice, or you can get your marker and write whatever you want on it!

I'm really delighted with this! It was one of those ideas that I just had to try.  It was quite easy and only took about 2 hours in all. It would be a lovely present that you could personalise and really 'dolls up' an old book.

Lilly x