Composition Notebook Cover

Any quilter knows that the world would be a better place covered in fabric, and a composition notebook is NO exception. Pull out those fabric scraps and start your world renovation project.

Requirements:

1. Fabric! You will need to end up with 2 10.5"x16" rectangles as well 2 10.5 x 6" rectangles. This can be single pieces of fabric or you can combine and sew different pieces together and trim to size as I have done in this tutorial.
2. Thread, both to sew and embellishing with decorative stitching.
3. 1 10.5'x16" piece if craft batting
4. Typical essentials such as cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter, pins, etc
5. Imagination

 All seams are quarter inch seams.

To begin, lay out your fabric and decide on your master fabric plan. I have selected three fabrics from the Northern Solitude collection from Holly Taylor. The end result of your fabric selection will need to be a 10.5" x 16" rectangle for both an outer and inner panel. For my notebook cover, I am choosing three fabrics for the outside cover, and a single fabric for the inside cover. You can can get crafty with both the inner an outer panel and make the cover reversible!


Sew your outside cover as desired, paying special attention to the needed end result measurement of 10.5 x 16".

Trim your front panel to 10.5" x 16" and then add any decorative stitching desired. If you plan to quilt your front cover, trim and pin the batting to the front cover and let your imagination go wild. I opted to add only one line of decorative stitches for this tutorial cover. This can be done with or without the batting pinned to the front cover. I have done it both ways.

Once decorative stitching and/or quilting of the front panel is complete, it's time to trim your back panel and batting (if you didn't in the prior step) to size. Using your front panel as a guide, trim the batting and back panel to match.    

To prepare the sandwich for sewing, the two panels should be rights sides together, with the batting on the outside.

To create the sleeves, cut two pieces of 10.5" x 6" corresponding fabric. Fold and iron lengthwise resulting in a 10.5" x 3" folded sleeve. Place and pin into their positions in between the two panels and on each side of the sandwich. Ensure that the folded end is towards the center. 

Pin your entire project together and sew.  You will want to leave a 3" opening at the bottom so that you may turn the project inside out once machine stitching is complete. 

Sew!  Ensure you leave the 3" opening!

Before turning the project inside out, snip a tad bit off each corner to prevent some of the bulk and allow nice pointed corners.

Turn the project inside out through the opening left during sewing. I like to use a knitting needle to poke the corners into a nice smooth corner.  Use your preferred method.  Smooth out project by using a warm iron.

Insert composition notebook into the sleeves.

And Viola!, you now have a lovely fabric covered notebook!

Hand stitch the opening you left to pull the fabric through.

I have used everything from scraps, to fat quarters to honey buns to create these lovely notebooks.  The only limit is your imagination!  You can even insert your favorite quilt block, just ensure a finished front panel of 10.5" x 16".

Watch for my next tutorial in which we use layer cakes to create a composition cover.

Enjoy!

This is my first tutorial- if something wasn't clear, let me know!