journal with fabric cover

This workshop brings together two of my passions, stitching and book binding. You will make a fabric cover, stitched and embellished to your own design, and then we’ll build the pages into the book with a simple and elegant binding. I will provide all the necessary materials and equipment you will need to make the book, and you can bring along your favourite fabrics and be ready to play and experiment.

Lesson Plan

There's a wide scope for playing with these covers, and they're very appealing to touch.
I'll demonstrate some techniques for creating interesting effects on your fabrics and introduce lots of possibilities for obsessive stitching, if that's what you like to do.
part way into the second day we'll prepare the pages and bind the book.

Requirement List

You will need all your usual tools of the trade. Bring any of the following that you happen to have:
sharp pencil, good ruler (in mm), a set square, scissors,
craft knife (snap blade) a cutting mat,
a couple of sewing needles for the binding (I use size 18 or 20 tapestry needles),
a dead ballpoint pen or a knitting needle or a bone folder (for scoring),
an old table knife with a smooth blade

Bring fabric to use for book covers, inside ( one piece ) and out ( can be pieced and patched.) the cover will measure approx 325 mm x 155 mm.
Fabrics that are not too heavy are best :
plain cotton or calico as a base to work on, and any fabrics for colour and pattern,
also silks, synthetics, glitz, lace, trims, braids, ribbons
Transparent fabrics such as organza can be very interesting, especially if layered over other fabric or images.
Piecing and patching is great fun and leads to more stitching.
Bring threads and suitable needles to stitch on your fabrics.

The embellished fabric will be bonded and/or stitched to a base which I will provide.
Additional decoration can be achieved by stitching or gluing on objects such as beads, buttons, feathers, leaves, found objects, whatever you like. Give this some thought and bring stuff.

I will provide all the construction materials you will need for the books:
the base to build your covers on, fusible web, an extra selection of fabrics to extend your stash,
the paper for pages, threads for binding, etc. .
I also provide the essential book binding equipment, and notes on technique.
There will be a charge of $15 to cover all of this.
If you have special papers of your own that you wish to include in the book, that’s fine, bring them along.