Instructions for Making a Brown Paper Bag Book Cover

Cover your books using a brown-paper bag.

It's important to keep books in good condition, and one inexpensive way to do that is to create your own book covers out of paper bags. All you need is a brown-paper bag left over from groceries to get started. This project is ideal for covering big, heavy books such as school textbooks, as you want to make sure the book doesn't get damaged throughout the year.

Things You'll Need

• Book
• Brown-paper bag
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Ruler

Instructions

1. Cut along one of the paper bag's creases to open it up. Cut out the rectangular bottom.

2. Lay the paper bag flat as a rectangle on a table or other flat surface.

3. Open the book and place it down on the center of the paper. You want a few inches of paper extending beyond each side of the book. It doesn't have to be exact, but you could allow 2 inches on the top and bottom of the book and 3 inches on either side. Cut off the excess paper.

4. Align your ruler horizontally along the top edge of the book. Draw a line along the ruler to mark the top edge all the way across the paper on each side of the book. Do the same thing along the bottom edge of the book.

5. Move the book off the paper. Fold the top edge down, creasing along the horizontal line you just drew. Fold the bottom edge up along its horizontal line.

6. Place the book back on top of the paper. The top and bottom edges of the book should now align with the paper.

7. Draw a line along the left and right edges of the book, forming two vertical lines. This will mark the edges, so you know where to fold on each side.

8. Remove the book from the paper again.

9. Fold the left side in along the vertical line. Fold the right side in along the opposite vertical line. These folds form pockets for each side of the book.

10. Place the book back on top of the paper, moving all the pages of the book to the right. Take the front cover of the book and tuck it into the left pocket. Move the pages to the left and tuck the back cover into the right pocket.

11. Smooth the cover out to complete the paper bag book cover. You now can decorate or label the cover as you wish.

References

• The Double-Daring Book for Girls: Make a Paper Bag Book Cover