How to Make a Cloth Bookcover

Take a plain book cover from ho-hum to fun with a homemade cloth book cover.

Cloth book covers are a stylish way to preserve the life of a book. Textbooks, Bibles and scrapbooks can be covered with a homemade cloth cover.

Things You'll Need

• Book
• 1/2 yard of fabric
• Scissors or a Rotary cutter and mat
• Needle and Thread or Double sided tape
• Straight pins

Instructions

1. Select a fabric with a design that is attractive. Choose fabric that is mid-weight to heavy weight. Make sure that the fabric is sturdy enough to withstand the use of the book.

2. Lay the book that will be covered down on a flat surface. Measure the width of the book from the spine to the opposite edge. Add this number to itself three times and record the number. This will be the width of the fabric that will be cut.

3. Measure the length of book from top to bottom. Add two inches to this measurement and record this number. This will be the length of the fabric that will be cut.

4. Cut the fabric to the size of the measurements. The measurement taken will be the vertical length and horizontal width of the fabric.

5. Lay the fabric that will be used for the cover on a flat surface with the side that will face out on the book cover down on the surface.

6. Fold a one-inch seam on the top and the bottom of the fabric. Turn the folds toward the wrong side of the fabric. Secure the folded fabric using straight pins. Lay the book down on the fabric to make sure that the cover fits the vertical dimensions of the book. If it does not, make adjustments to the seams before continuing. Iron the fabric so that the seams lay flat. Attach the folded portion of the seams to the fabric using double-sided fabric tape or by sewing using a running stitch. Remove the straight pins.

7. Lay the opened book centered on top of the cloth. Fold the horizontal sides of the fabric in so that the fabric is on top of the inside of the front and back covers. These folded portions will form the flaps of the book cover. Use straight pins to connect the flaps of the covers to the front of the cover so that the cover is the correct width.

8. Attach the fabric of the flaps to the fabric of the front of the cover with double-sided fabric tape or by using a running stitch. Attach the fabric at the top and bottom of the books edge. This way, the size of the flap size will not change and the cover will remain secured to the book.

References

• Moonstitches Book Cover Tutorial
• Craftzine How-To: Sew a Simple Fabric Book Cover

Resources

• Morning Coffee: How to Make a Fabric Book Cover