How to Make a Fabric Bookcover

Protect an old book by making a fabric cover.

Whether you are going to school, reading on your lunch hour at work, or keeping a journal at your bedside, a fabric book cover will add to the enjoyment of picking up a book and protect it from damage. Cover any size or type of book with a fabric cover that displays your own personal style. Make fabric book covers for textbooks, journals, novels or binders. Choose any fabric, from simple cotton prints to formal brocade or tapestry to make a unique book cover.

Things You'll Need

• Ruler
• Fabric shears
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Needle
• Iron

Instructions

1. Measure your book with a ruler. Measure the height of the book. Open the book flat, face down, and measure the entire width of the front and back covers as well as the spine, from right to left. Add a 1/2-inch seam allowance to each measurement and write them down.

2. Determine how big you want the inside flaps. If you want to use the flaps as pockets to hold papers, extend them several inches from the edge of the book. Add this amount to the measurement around the cover. For example; a book that measures 5-by-8 inches with a 1-inch spine measures 8-inches in height and 17-inches in width. When you add 1/2 inch on each side you get a measurement of 6-by-18 inches. With an inside flap of 3-inches, the final measurement is 6-by-21 inches.

3. Cut two rectangles of fabric to the measurements for the book with fabric shears.

4. Place the fabric pieces right sides together and pin with straight pins.

5. Thread the sewing machine with coordinating thread and stitch the two pieces of fabric together 1/2-inch from the edge, leaving a 2-inch opening to turn the fabric. Trim excess fabric from the seam allowance and at corners, especially for a bulky fabric.

6. Turn the fabric right sides out. Thread the needle and hand-stitch the opening closed.

7. Press the cover with an iron set to the appropriate setting for the fabric.

8. Place the fabric cover on your book, wrapping it around the book covers to the inside.

9. Pin the inside flaps to the outside cover at the top and bottom edges of the front and back covers.

10. Remove the cover from the book and stitch the pinned area by hand, as close to the edge as possible, to create the flap pocket.

11. Place the cover on your book.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a lightweight fabric with a heavy fabric, like tapestry or velvet, to avoid excess bulk.

• Embellish your cover with buttons, appliques, jewels, ribbons or other trims. Use fabric paints or markers to write book names on the cover.

• Make a coordinating bookmark with scraps of the fabric by sewing a long tube of fabric to hang out of the top, and add a charm or beads to the end.