How to Make a Button-Embellished Notebook Cover

comments (9) February 13th, 2009     

If you're working with very small buttons, you might find it easier to pick them up and place them back down with tweezers.

When all of the buttons have been glued, leave them to dry for about an hour.

When the glue is dry, sew the buttons in place.

When the glue is dry, remove the cover from the notebook again. Sew the buttons to the felt—I'm using pearl cotton embroidery thread here. Two or three stitches through each set of holes should be plenty.

Fold in the sides of the finished cover and pin them in place.

With the buttons attached, place the cover face down on your work surface. Fold in the two side flaps as shown. (The pen holder will mark the location of one fold. If you need to, you can place the cover on the notebook again to gauge the location of the second fold.)

Pin the folds in place.

Blanket-stitch along the top and bottom edges of the cover.

Begin at one corner and blanket-stitch across the top edge of the cover, ending at the other corner. As you can see, part of this seam will stitch through two layers of felt and part of it will stitch through only one.

Then, repeat the process to blanket-stitch along the bottom edge of the cover. Again, I'm using pearl cotton embroidery thread.

Slide the front and back covers of the notebook into the pockets of the felt.

With those seams in place, you'll have two pockets in your finished cover. Slip the front and back covers of the notebook into these pockets, as shown. And now you have a spiffy notebook that always has its own pen, so you'll never miss another brainstorm!

posted in: embroidery, fabric, buttons, felt, accessory