Making It Up As I Go Along

Today was a great day to [finally] create a journal cover that I promised my mom.

I started with a Kaffe fat quarter and an appliqued  panel that I did in high school. You could put together any patchwork/embroidery/applique that your heart desires. Make sure it's a piece that speaks to your artist's soul.

Square up fabric and slice off two inch strips.

Make panel bigger.

Make panel more bigger. Add enough to go all the way around the book in question.

Make a quilt sammich. I used spray baste because I could. Feel free to use a "second choice" fabric or even a fugly. I promise it won't show.

Lay the book in question on top of the sammich and trace around it using a water soluble marker. I followed less than 1/4" from the edge of the book.

Use the tracing lines so you know where to quilt. Then go to town with the FMQ. Quilt heavily. (Or not, as desired.)

I drew some squiggles, curlicues, petals....

....I even added a heart and did some echoing and stippling.

I trimmed the edges about 3/8" outside the tracing lines. When you do this, please also add about a 1/4" to the width to allow for more ease when the book is closed.

Grab another fabric. Measure book cover and cut two pieces the height of the cover by two-thirds the width.

Notice that you measured wrong and trim to the right size.

Fold these in half vertically. Press and set aside.

Use the same or another fabric to cut bias strips.

Make binding. Duh!

Put it all together: Cover goes wrong side up. Inner flaps need to be placed to that the fold is towards the center and the raw edges match the cut ends of the quilted piece.

You could baste the flaps at this point, but I'm impatient. Pin them mostly well. Sew the binding on in the same pass under the presser foot.

Experiment alert! I did try to do bias binding using a tute I found on YouTube. Something about matching and then measuring the width of the binding to provide cut lines.... Dismal failure. This is a good inch too long.

Fix continuous binding using personal "wing-it" method.

Much better. Finger press and finish sewing.

Second last step not pictured - turn binding to front and stitch down. Use a walking foot. See my towel tutorial if you're unsure how to do machine binding.

Insert a book.

The last step, of course, is to EXHALE because the book fits and you didn't measure much.

Please re-read the tutorial and keep a keen eye out for the places mistakes were made. Avoid making these mistakes.

I believe I'll make one for myself, too! My design book needs an appropriate cover. I think I'll add some shiny....