I will show you how to make a book cover for a standard mass market paperback (tradeback books are a different size!). There are also directions at the end for the Quick & Dirty version.

You’ll need:

• Fabric (nothing stretchy – I prefer corduroys, linens, and soft canvas myself)
• Interfacing (I use medium or heavy weight, depending on how flimsy my fabric choice is)
• Ribbon (width is up to you and the ridged kind is great – oh! and a bauble if you like)
• Fabric glue (optional – see Step Two)
• Fabric marker

STEP ONE : Cutting

Outside Cover: Cut out a piece of fabric and interfacing measuring 18 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches
*Note: Super thick or super thin books may need adjustments in the length of the cover, but this is good for roughly 200-500 pages.
Inner Lining: Cut out a piece of fabric and interfacing measuring 10 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches
Bookmark: Cut a piece of ribbon 19 inches long

STEP TWO: Bookmark

Finger press the ribbon in half.

Attach your bauble – I slip on a circle shell bead, but you can sew a button on the end, or leave it bare, or whatever you can think of.

Pin the end of the ribbon (I found that miniature clothes pins work great for various sewing projects!). This will help keep the ribbon in line when you proceed to the next step.

Optional: Use fabric glue along the ribbon to secure the sides together (put a piece of scrap paper underneath!). Another option is to sew it, but I found that too tricky. Of course, you could also cut the length in half instead of doubling up and skip this part altogether.

STEP THREE: Fabric and interfacing

Lay each interfacing on top of the Cover and the Lining.

Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew the two short sides of both the Cover and the Lining. You know what else is cool? It does not matter what color thread you use because you’ll never see it:)

Reverse both the Cover and the Lining. But see how its real loosey-goosey?

Introduce your iron to the problem and voila!

Here is the point where you can add embellishments – ideas: embroidery, buttons, applique, fabric flowers – try something out! I added a simple ribbon at the middle of the Cover along where the book binding will be.

If you decide to do something on just the front cover, measure where the center is and then measure from that point (towards the right): half of the depth of your book, and draw a line. This will be the left side of the front cover. Then measure from that point over by the width of your book and that will be the right side of your cover. Also remember to stay within the seam allowance along the top and bottom.

STEP FOUR: Folding

Lay the Cover face down. Measuring from both edges, mark 1 3/4 inches. The mark itself will roughly give you 1/8 of an inch for the fold allowance, so you’ll then want to move your ruler and mark 2 inches in from that. Do not worry about the 3 1/2 mark yet.

Flip the Cover over and fold both sides in at the 2 inch mark.

Fold the sides back over themselves at the 1 3/4 inch mark. Have a go with the iron again. Now is the time to mark the 3 1/2 mark at the top, only on the left side (this will be for placing the book mark).

Pin your bookmark centered over the 3 1/2 mark. Be sure to leave 1/4 of an inch poking passed the cover just to be extra sure it gets sewn in well during the next step.

**This is really important!!** Make sure that you twist your bookmark out to the side because if you don’t, and you leave it poking down at the bottom, you will sew it into the cover and curse yourself as you rip the seams out! Trust me!

Lay the Lining facedown on top of the folded Cover. Make sure you see that bookmark poked out of the side, gosh darnit!

STEP FIVE: Sew it up!

Along the top and bottom, sew with 1/4 seam allowance.

Clip the corners and the 1/4 tab left from the bookmark.

STEP SIX: Flip it out!

Reverse the cover.

Reverse the pockets.

Use your finger to poke the corners nicely and then iron the sucker out.

ENJOY!

I would love for you to add your photos to theCrafties Fabric Book Cover Pool, or leave a comment here, or send an email. Photos are awesome but so are any issues you had when making the cover. I’d be glad to work out quirks!

QUICK AND DIRTY:

The Q&R version omits the interfacing and is best with thicker fabrics because thinner ones will feel flimsy and cheap (and may even be see-through!). Because of that, the side edges are raw but this really doesn’t matter since they ultimately end up in the very inside of the cover.

• Reduce the Length of both the Cover and Lining by 1/2 inch.
• Skip the talk about cutting out interfacing, and the part about sewing the interfacing to the fabric in STEP THREE.
• Follow all the other steps.

Quick, huh? :)

Do tell me if you enjoyed this, won’t you? And please remember to add your photos to theCrafties Fabric Book Cover Pool! :D

Meanwhile, I had made an additional cover as a present:

Then I also made a trade back size cover. Which incidentally seemed way more popular on the subways in NYC than mass market books, so perhaps I should give some of those away in the future, eh?

What do you think – are mass market books or tradeback books more popular? Or is it that I should be making eBook covers instead?

I will tally it up and then post the winners soon! :D

Thank you guys so much for your interest :D

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This week begins Sew Mama Sew’s May Giveaway Day, and I am happy to once again participate!

This round, I am giving away 4 book covers which fit the standard Mass Market size paperbacks. You know, the short fat ones that are about 4.25 x 6.75 inches.

Cute & Colorful

Old-Timey

Clean & Preppy

Embroidery Experiment

The first (and thus far only other) time I participated, I had asked for everyone’s favorite author or book. The literary winner was Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice for those interested.

I had also asked the winners last time to give me their thoughts on the product since I was still working out the pattern. Since then, I have worked it out and am now at the stage of experimenting with the embellishments. If only there were more weekends in the week, eh?

This round all I ask from you is to be kind and only leave one comment. Please include:

• What character would you love to meet in real life and why?
  (Name the book and author of course;)
• Which cover would you prefer?
  (Although in the case of ties, I will choose randomly.)
• Your email address
  (It is ok to disguise it such as:  calynn ((at)) thecrafties ((dot)) com)

Side note: If you are having trouble finding the Comments link (look up top, under the date), then click on the title and scroll to the bottom. (This theme still has a few quirks, and for that I apologize.) Comments are moderated so it may take a while for yours to appear, what with work and a NYC trip and all, but they will be tallied in order, this I promise you:)

Comments will be closed around midnight Eastern time on Wednesday, May 25th. The four international winners will be chosen at random and I will ship the covers out by the end of the month. I will email each at the close of the giveaway for the mailing information but if I do not hear from them by Saturday, May 28th, I will select another random winner instead.

Also, check back soon after the winners have been announced for the tutorial! Yes, finally! :D

Good luck and huzzah!

What i can share with you is this super sized bookcover. I will eventually post patterns but they arent ready yet so chill out there, cowgirls. Patience is a virtue:) I am happy that now Ill be able to offer two sizes : the standard “mass market paperback” size and the standardish larger “trade paperback” size such as this one:

Purple Butterfly, a la Heidi Grace
Felt and Embroidery (Chain stitch and back stitch)

Check out size descriptions here: Wikipedia Paperback Types

The first few stitches can be seen in detail here. So far I have learned something like 24 techniques. Here are the latest ones, so you can see them better:

Huh, maybe i shoulda pulled out the iron for that. But anywho. I also worked a bit more on this thread art experiment thingamabob. I decided it should go vertical. Im still pondering on how to fill in the empty space up top, as you can see.

And I made this bookcover a while ago, but I hadnt posted about it. I made a fabric flower for the detail by somewhat following a How-Tuesday post at Etsy. I havent decided yet if I will stitch the leaves up at all, and this is the first cover I made with a fabric glue on the page marker. I like the way it turned out but Im not sure if the marker is too stiff now. The book I am currently reading isnt the right size to give it a go so the jury is out on that at the moment.

]]> http://www.thecrafties.com/2010/06/experiments/feed/ 0 http://www.thecrafties.com/2010/05/giveaway-day/ http://www.thecrafties.com/2010/05/giveaway-day/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 05:00:17 +0000 CaLynn http://www.thecrafties.com/?p=1345 I felt compelled to participate in Sew Mama Sew‘s May Giveaway Day this year. You may remember me mentioning it once upon a time when i randomly stumbled upon the glory that is is. I urge you all to check out the other bloggers participating this round, after commenting for your chance to win here, of course;)

For those of you just joining me, one of the things I enjoy making is bookcovers. So far, they are only sized for the average softcover novel (for your reference, I used the same book in all of these photos and it has 814 pages – works great on shorter novels too!). You can see some of the other ones I made here. I would love to post my pattern but after much thought I have decided that I need to work out all the kinks and I am hoping that this opportunity provided by Sew Mama Sew will allow that.

Therefore, I have decided to take a different approach to this giveaway. I have five book covers chosen, but I do not consider them completed projects. Instead, I consider them prototypes, but in truth I cant read that many books quick enough to see what the hangups are. So i am enlisting your help by kindly requesting that if you win, you report back to me with any and all your thoughts.

So here goes: the five different bookcovers, one of which very well might make it into your own hands! (Oh, not a reader yourself? Well surely you know someone who is!)

BUTTERFLY #1

This cover sports lightweight interfacing and lightweight (narrow wale) corduroy. One of the first covers I made, using my 2stitch method (see below for details). It also has a looped ribbon page marker, secured to a round shell bead. One butterfly on the front has been embroidered in a simple fashion.

BUTTERFLY #2

Identical to the first butterfly cover with two changes: A bit more stitching to secure the shell bead on the page marker and more elaborate stitching for one butterfly on the front of the cover.

BUTTERFLY #3

This cover is just like the first two except that the page marker sports sequins and beads which match the embellishment of one of the butterflies on the front cover.

SIMPLE GREY

This cover was made from a lightweight (narrow wale) corduroy with tiny embroidered flowers on it (i bought it that way), and lightweight interfacing. However, it was put together with my 4stitch method (see below for details). The page marker is a single ribbon (not looped) and does not have a finishing touch (although I did add some fray-check) – feel free to customize it with your favorite bead or button! :)

SPRING COTTON

This is the first cover I have made using quilters cotton rather than something thicker. I used a combination of lightweight and heavyweight interfacing to give it the sturdiness I feel comfortable with. It sports a few sequins and beads on the cover and spine. It also was made with my 4 stitch method. Like the Simple Grey, its page marker is unlooped and left undone (topped off with fray-check only – leave plain or add your own special touch!).

The difference between my 2 stitch and 4 stitch is simple. 2 stitch bookcovers have unfinished (raw) edges hiding under the flaps. 4 stitch bookcovers have finished edges under the flap. Both ways work quite fine for the purpose of a bookcover, and when I finally post the pattern, both options will be noted. I have simply decided that I like the extra two lines of stitching more.

And now you know what Im offering, so let the fun begin!

Five random winners from anywhere in the world will be selected from those who follow these rules:

1. Please be kind and enter only once

2. Tell me your favorite book of all time or favorite author (and anything else youd like to say;)

3. You must include a way for me to contact you

4. By commenting, you agree to provide me feedback on your thoughts and how well the cover endures (and also to not steal the pattern for commercial use!) Simple things like : Did the stitching hold? Was the interfacing too stiff? Did anything about it annoy you? Etc etc. Honest answers for an honest crafter.

This giveaway is open until 11:59pm central time on May 20th and I will ship internationally so anyone can participate. I will then select five commenters randomly and announce the winners and ship the prizes by May 24th. I moderate comments (shame on spammers!), so dont worry if you do not see them post right away – they will still post in the order commented:)

Good luck and huzzah! :D

I also have made more book covers and am working on the March toy for my neice (yep, im running late). I havent taken photos of those because a) the lighting is really horrendous but the weather  seems to be finally breaking so maybe that will no longer be an issue and b) i was waiting for my new craft table, which i finally got put together last night! I got it from Macys for half off, but they are already discontinuing it so good luck trying to find one.

It is awesome because its very deep, but not long enough to be too large for the room, and my favorite part – it is counter height! I could have been crafting all morning with it, but since the weather is actually nice i was cleaning out the garage and i took the girls for a stroll while i dreamed all the changes i wanted to make on the outside of the house. I might not start crafting yet still, because now the whole set up of my craft room has been upset and it needs to be reorganized. Good times!

Another project I made was a very belated project – a purse for my sis-in-law kt. I was a little nervous at how small it came out but shes into small purses so it was a perfect choice for her afterall. Phew. I also learned how to do one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine. I still need way more practice with that, but I was really excited about it! I got this pattern from Made By Rae. Its her internetly famous buttercup bag pattern.

I also made a a little monster for my friends daughter as a birthday present. I had fun personalizing it for her from RevoluzZza’s How to sew a RevoluzZzionary monster tutorial.

This is the first bookcover made with my new process. Im very proud of it because it has a much more quality feel to it but its just so easy. I took some pics for a tutorial, but the light was poor (much like most of my photos) so I am going to sit down tomorrow and make a better effort. Hopefully, fingers crossed, ill have the tute up soon.

There is still one more project to talk about, but Ill save that for tomorrow. Good night and dont forget to change your clocks!