Back to School Blog Hop: Day 3

Parents everywhere are rejoicing as school begins again! In celebration of this special time of the year, we're hosting a Back to School Blog Hop. But "back to school" isn't just for the parents of school kids...it's also for anyone heading off to college, returning to school, or even just looking for a fresh start. With that in mind we're sharing three tutorials this week (plus fabric giveaways!) that will appeal to anyone in a back-to-school mindset!

Today Wendy from Ivory Spring is here, sharing a tutorial for creating a book cover using the Lemon Squeezy collection by Holly Helgeson. Remember back in the day when you covered your hard-covered school books with brown paper bags? No disrespect to the paper bag, but fabric is so much better! So whether it's a high school algebra book or a daily planner like Wendy's, this back-to-school project can protect and beautify your every-day books! 

Here's Wendy: 
Hello Friends, it's great to be back on Sew in love {with Fabric}!  Today, I will share with you the simple way I used to cover up my new planner.  I have a 17-month planner, and I know that the cover will not survive the wear and tear of daily use.

So I decided to cover it with a fabric book cover.  I used a total of (5) 10" squares from Benartex's Lemon Squeezy Precut 10" squares for my planner that measures approximately 12 3/8" (W) x 8 1/2" (L) when opened up -- 2 pink dots for the inside of the cover; and pink lemon, green daisy and yellow banner for the outside of the cover.

Step 1:  I first sew together (2) 10" Precut Squares, result in (1) rectangle that measures 10" (L) x 19 3/4" (W).  So, for a 12 3/8" wide edge to edge (when opened) width of my planner, I will have enough on each side for the flap.

Step 2:  For the remaining squares, I cut 6" x 10" rectangles from the pink lemon and green daisy squares.  I sew the rectangles and the yellow banner precut square together, and that will be the outside of my planner cover.

Step 3:  Now, the pieced outside cover will be a little larger than the pieced inside cover.  So, I laid the two pieces together, and trimmed off the excess from the inside of the cover so that both pieces are even.  That takes care of the dimension of the width.  To take care of the length, I added 1" to the 8 1/2".  So, I trimmed the length of both pieces to measure 9 1/2".  So now, both of the inside and outside of my planner cover measures raw edge to raw edge 9 1/2" x 19 3/4".

Step 4:  Once both pieces were trimmed to size, I sewed both pieces together (right sides together) at 1/4" seam allowance, leaving an opening.  I then turned the inside out through the opening.

Step 5:  I then pressed the cover flat, capturing the seam allowance from the opening. Then,  just stitched the opening shut.  You may choose to finish it by hand so that the stitches aren't as visible, but that was going to be the back flap. So I was okay with those stitches. :)

Step 6:  Once that is done, I laid my opened planner on the planner cover, with the inside of the cover up to decide how wide I want my flaps. I wanted my back flap to be a little wider than the front so that I can slip in papers in the back flap for safe keeping.  Once I decide on the placement, I place a pin to mark the spot, and then, I sewed the flap down (backstitched - sewed - backstitched) on the top and bottom edges about 1/8-1/4" into the edge, depending on how tight you want the fit to be.

I then did the same to the front flap.  You can see from the following picture better the reason to stitch down the bottom and top edges of the flap - because that actually "makes" the flap.

And there you have it!

It's a really quick project to complete in the midst of the back to school chaos.... I got the project done in time for tea time to enjoy a piece of cake!

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This simple method works for covering other books as well -- you will just need to adjust your Math a little as you go through the procedure.

So to recap -- to do this to fit your book/planner, you will need two pieces of fabric (can be pieced for fun visual effect) of:

Width = width of book + 3-5" extra on each end for flaps

Length = length of book + 1" extra.  You can get by with 3/4" if you are careful, and you will more than likely get a tighter fit.

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I hope you all have a most wonderful school year ahead!

Thanks Wendy!

For a chance to win Lemon Squeezy fabrics, make sure you follow us here on the blog (options are in the right-hand sidebar). Leave a comment letting us know that you do, as well as telling us what book you'd make a cover for. This giveaway is open through Tuesday, August 30th at 11:59 pm EST. We'll randomly draw a winner and announce it here on the blog. 

Make sure to catch all of the tutorials in our Back to School Blog Hop!
Wednesday: Chris from made by ChrissieD featuring Simply Chic
Thursday: Benartex Blog Design Team featuring Transformation Black & White
Friday: Wendy from Ivory Spring featuring Lemon Squeezy