Making a Fabric Book

I was honoured to be invited to a first Birthday party for the daughter of one of my Bookcrossing friends. What could I take? A book of course. But not any book, it would have to be custom made.

I decided upon a colour book. Each page is made from 4 different 3 1/2 inch squares of fabric. They are sewn with 1/4 inch seams. Sandwiched between the two sides of the page is a layer of Hobbs 80/20 batting. After sewing the layers together, they were turned right side our, top stitched along 3 sides and quilted in the centre with a floral motif. (it is for a little girl).

The first picture shows the front side of each page, and the second picture shows the flip side.


If you look carefully on the 'pink' page, you can see some writing in the bottom right hand, that's the Bookcrossing registration number.

The green binding for the book was cut 2 1/2 inches wide and about 10 inches long. It was folded in half length wise and pressed. Then was sewn to the front and back covers with a 1/4 inch seam. I pressed the seams toward the centre. Next was to fold the tab of the binding in toward the middle of the book, where it would be hidden, and to continue the top stitching to hold it in place. In the third picture, at the top of the book the tab has not yet been folded in, at the bottom of the picture the tab is folded in and stitched in place.



The centre 2 pages were stitched together along their 'raw' edges.

Final step was to pin them in place on the inside of the back cover and fold the front over, adjust the pins and then stitch them in place along the edge of the binding. All the raw edges are hidden within the green binding.

The finished book is approximately 6 inches square. This is quite big enough for a small toddler. It is also washable.