How to Make a Book Cover for National Book Lovers Day

In this tutorial we are going to go over on how to make a book cover. You can either watch the video above or follow cut up blog version below!

First thing that we’ll do is to iron on the stabilizer to the fabrics. Once that is done you’ll add a soft back which is fusible, and we are going to fuse that together.

Next part, you have to cut white strips, different widths and not different lengths. All 6 inches and then you've got different colors. The instructions say red, but we did a variety because it’s more fun. We pre-sewed most of these done. You will have either 50 weight, cotton thread in, or you could use a 40 weight put right sides together. You're going to use your quarter inch, foot.

Once you have that, you're going to press to the dark side. Next step, you'll need a zipper and you'll need the piece. We believe it's one and three quarter inches wide that you've already sewn together. And the seven by 12 inch that you've already fused that soft back. After that you'll first change your foot from the quarter inch, to your zipper foot and you’ll want it on the left side so the needle is on the left.

Now we take our zipper and we're doing right side facing up. You want to center it left to right and then you'll take one of your, I believe it's the one and three quarter inch fabrics that you've already sewn together. And that goes on top with right side facing the right side of the zipper.

You can pin or not pin. Hold it together and we'll stitch it down. Now. I'm finger pressing right now, but now I'm going to press this. So the first strip, so I've got the front of the zipper and the first strip and I'm on the back sides. White folded it this way. I'm going to go press this.

Go ahead and grab the other pieces for the book cover.

We will top stitch the zipper down later but not yet because we still have white thread in. Change your foot again to your quarter inch foot.  We are going to do them in rainbow color, but you can do them in any order you want remembering that the two inch wide piece is the very last one to go on, we are taking our blue on now and putting right sides together. Now, if you notice all of these are pretty long.

What we want you to do is stagger, so this way, when we press it open it'll be different height. We are doing a quarter inch with right sides together, press it open and continue until you have them all finished.

Now two things you're going to change. One is the foot you want to go to your N foot or your monogramming foot or another one is called an open toe foot, but you also want to change your thread. We’ve been using white 40 week Polly, or we’re going to change that to a 50 weight cotton. And the reason we chose this one is because it's variegated and it kind of matches all the colors. Instructions tell you to use an embroidery thread. The instructions tell you to use the, Rick Rack design. It's like a double zigzag. You can use that particular design or any other decorative stitch you choose. Let's do something different. On the Baby Lock Presto II we’re choosing number 44. I kind of looks like a Rick Rack, kind of a weird looking zigzag thing.  We’re going to start at the bottom and work our way up.

Once you’ve done that on one strip as it looks like a thick zigzag apply that to the rest. For us it it not stitched on the red end. So the next thing we're going to do is take two of the 2x12’s that we have left. One has the soft on it that's going to be back, and then you have another one.

We’re going to line up the zipper and it's hard to see, cause we’ve got layers of fabric. So you sandwich the two together.

We changed to a purple thread because this is where after we’ve stitched the zipper on, we will top stitch. And then we also back to the zipper foot, needle is on the left side. Let's line this up and we'll stitch this down, make sure you’ve changed it to the correct stitch. After that press the fabric. The instructions do not tell you to stitch the zipper down, but we're going to stitch the zipper down cause we don't want the zipper edges to get caught. So we've got to do something very simple, nothing fancy. Just going to stitch in top stitch that zipper side down.

Okay, so now we need to trim it down. So here we are at the cut table. So this will be 10 and a half inches.

And then you're looking at eight across. Now be mindful that you move the zipper down because if you don't, you're going to cut the zipper pull off. So we’re going to flip it so we can see the backside. First thing we’re going to do is just trim the edge.

And then 10 and a half on the other side.

So when you're finished, you remember not to close the zipper all the way because the zipper pull will fly off. We have it cut up to the size we need, let's go back to the machine. So now you need to take your pocket piece and you're aligning and this piece is 10 and a half by eight right side facing up.

10:12

You want to lie the cover down on top of the pocket piece and make sure it lines up nice. We are going to pin it so it doesn't move.

 

Now in the instructions, it tells you to make these for the flaps.

When we first made it the flaps are much too wide in our opinion. So what we did was just take one of these, cut it where the fold was, and then refolded them. So now they're much shorter.

So it's put half of what it was. Okay. We think it was three inches, which is a lot easier to put on a book. Next we are going to stitch one down, going to put the raw edge of your folded piece to the raw edge on your zipper side. Actually you can do it either side, so it doesn't really matter. All right, let's take this foot off and go back to your all purpose thread. But in this case I'm using just white. We're also going to change the foot back from the zipper foot to the quarter-inch, as well as the bobbin back to white.

Now we’re going to stitch this down with a quarter inch foot and press. Once you've got that, you can put that aside and we need to change to a quilting foot. You can change your embroidery thread if you choose we left it white. Okay. So what we’re doing is taking the piece that has the stabilizer on the back the soft stabilizer. Now you’ll want to draw lines or just stitch lines, one inch apart. We’ve done most of them and started in the middle on a cross. And then if you look really close, you can see that they're each there's lines all the way across.

So all I ever do is two lines left. Now the stitch that I'm using on the Presto is a serpentine. It looks like three little lines across and it goes all the way down, kind of weird looking, but it's a great stitch. And when you use it on regular thread, you can use as a top station spray thick. So we are going to finish these last two.

So now we still have these lines show. So he used a friction pen and the great pens. They come in different colors, and we used a black one. I like them because you can draw on your fabrics and then take it away with heat. So that's what we’re going to do. Next you’ll want to take off your walking foot and go back to your straight stitch.
and then you want to put on the quarter inch foot. So now that other one that you had folded previously for the flat, you want to attach that and press again.

All right. Once you have your quilted back with the flap attached and your pocket, remember your pocket lining is on. There's a lot not attached yet, but it's on, it's attached through the flat and that's why we have it pinned.

Now with right sides together, we're going to take the other side of your pocket. Line it up with the edge of your quilt piece and press it again.

So here's your front without this in your pocket flaps and your back.

So now you're going to take one last piece. You have a large piece that's your 10 and a half by 15 lining. The instructions want you to stitch quarter-inch hem. You just want to stitch these down. So we’re going to press them first.

So you want to take your book cover and put it on top. Still. We’d still leave the zipper away, fold the flaps towards the zipper.

And then you take that hemmed lining piece and you want to line it up and it's going to be a little smaller than your book, the outer part of it. Make sure to put a couple of pins so it's stable.

Next you’re going to stitch down each raw edge where it's not been stitched when you flip it over, make sure you've caught everything so it doesn't fall apart, and then do the other side. Take your pins out and now you want to turn it right side out. Then you can clip your corners with scissors and then take a chopstick or something similar and push out the corners of the book cover, so they are now on the inside instead of the outside. Now go ahead and place the book inside that you’ve measured for, and there you have it!