Fabric Notebook Cosy kits

Well, the fabric mix packs have all been snapped up already, but the fabric notebook 'cosy' kits are still available in my shop as of right now. *UPDATE* - oops sorry! They've all gone again already! I'll get onto making some more :)





I had fun putting these together and choosing the fabric combinations, and printing out the instructions in colour and guilt free with my new printer jigger!

Journal cover - Japanese style

Weird. Last night I had my second bout of late night stitching in a row. Not sure what's going on there, but I am sure it's not how most "young people" would spend their weekend evenings. But ahh, who cares :)

Anyway, you know how it gets to 10:00pm, and you're sitting on the couch not quite ready for bed but with a sewing project in mind? And you say to yourself "Oh, I'll just cut out the fabric and then go to bed". And you cut out the fabric and then think "oh... I'll just pin it together". And then afterwards you think "oh, I'll just do the first round of stitching", after which you figure that you may as well just finish it off.

Well that's what happened to me last night. I decided to make a journal cover based on a pattern I saw in a couple of Japanese craft books:



It's really quite a simple design, and it seems like almost all Japanese fabric book covers are made this way, but I've never seen it here before:



It wasn't till after I'd made it that I realised how useful that little tuck under flap is. I thought it was just to make it easy to get the cover on, but I found it also helps to keep the cover from buckling when you have the book open flat. You can take up the slack by pulling the flap in tighter. Very neat.



The pattern isn't particularly complicated, but you can find it in either of those books above, which you can find in one of the online Japanese crafty shops that I've listed in previous posts (sorry can't remember which - but I know I've seen them!). Otherwise the pictures above should make good reference. It's just one big rectangle: tapered at one end, folded over and sewn at the other, with the vertical band sewn in also. Measurements should be based on your own journal and common sense :)

One last note - how bloody cute is that fabric!! I'm kicking myself for not buying more. But that's what happens when you're over there - it's all so overwhelming, and when you see something you like you sometimes hold out because you figure you'll find something even better later on. But my tip - don't hold out - just buy buy buy! I found it in Kyoto (again just $1 for a fat quarter) from a shop called Nomura Tailor in Teramachi Arcade. Grr.

Thinkin' thinkin'

Shannon and I went to the Life In Style trade show last night. I'd never been to a trade show before. It was very inspiring and thought provoking - seeing people in a similar field to myself who have taken things to the next step.

It poses a interesting question though - how far do I want to take this fabric venture? It seems like there are two main options. Stick with producing things on a small scale, for sale in my own shop and just a few other places. Or, start getting things professionally produced from the fabric, on a larger scale, selling in shops and doing the whole trade show thing.

I don't know - the latter sounds so very 'huge', but I guess it doesn't have to be. Some people probably just start inching in that direction and before they know it they have a 'range'. Anyway, food for thought.

Meanwhile, I'm looking into making products from my fabric that are a little less labour intensive. I put this little prototype kit together last week (and was quite taken aback to see something very similar at the trade show already - eep!). But anyway, little DIY notebook cover kits with fabric and instructions:





Leave the hard (sorry, fun) work up to someone else!

How to make a reversible journal cover

Part 1: Measuring

1) Measure the height of your journal. Add 2cm. We will refer to this measurement as "H".

2) Whilst closed, measure around your journal, from the outside edge of the front cover, around the spine to the outside edge of the back cover. Add 2cm. We will call this measurement "L".

3) Measure how deep you want your cover pockets to be. 3/4 of the cover width or more is good. Then add 1cm to this measurement and double it. We will call this measurement "P". (eg: if your pocket depth is 12cm, then P = 13*2 = 26).

Part 2: Cutting

4) Cut your cover and lining fabrics, both the same size - H x L.

5) Cut your pocket fabric, two pieces, both H x P. Once cut, fold each piece in half widthways, with the correct side of the fabric facing outwards.

Part 3: Stitching

6) Lay the 4 pieces of fabric on top of one another and pin together like this:



7) Sew each of the sides of the cover and lining fabrics to the adjacent side of the pocket fabric, leaving a gap in the middle of one of the sides. I use an overlocker and trim about 2mm off the edge as I go. If you are sewing with an ordinary machine then stitch about 7mm in from the edge.


8) Lay the pieces down flat again, and then sew across the top and bottom. You should be sewing through the cover, lining and two layers of the pocket fabric each time:

9) Now for the moment of truth! Turn the whole thing right side out, through the hole you left in the side. You should be able to turn it out two different ways - either with the lining fabric tucked into the pockets, or with the cover fabric tucked into the pockets. This makes the cover completely reversible.

10) Finish it off by stitching up the hole, and ironing flat. Voila:



So there you go! Pretty easy, really. Would love to hear any suggestions if anyone has them! Personally I'd like to find a way to get the corners sharper so they're not so rounded, but I can't seem to poke them out enough. Must be something to do with the way it's all stitched together...

'Moment of Truth' Reversible A5 Journal Cover

I've been quite inspired by the fact that my sewing machine didn't let me down when I was making those coasters. Now I feel a new sense of freedom when it comes to project ideas that require my trusty old machine and overlocker!

A friend of mine recently bought one of those plain financial year diaries, and I suggested that we cover it with some fabric. Unsure of the best way to do this I decided to do a test run on one of my own journals (I love the beautiful hand-bound books that I've been given but often there's a need for a crappy A5 visual diary that you feel no preciousness about at all - but can still make look pretty).

Anyway, I spent a good part of the afternoon drawing diagrams of how I could best make a journal cover. One with pockets which the front and back covers slide into, and with no exposed seams. I knew there'd be some fancy, tricky way to sew it which would all come out perfectly once popped the right way out (hence the title of this post). I finally came up with a solution that seemed promising, did a test run with paper with heartening results, then crossed my fingers and tried it with fabric.



And it worked! I'm sure I'm not the first person to figure this out, but it was a fun problem solving exercise. Oh and there was a bonus surprise - the cover is reversible! Turn it out a different way and the inside lining becomes the outside and vice versa :)

Tute?