Fabric Book Cover- DIY Journal Cover Instructions

Cover your journal, diaries and notebooks with fabric cover that is easy to make. Follow step by step instructions with pictures to make fabric book cover for any shape and size journal or notebook. This tutorial is great for beginners with little sewing skills. No patterns or sewing plan is required to make this DIY book cover.

Please welcome Sarah. She is an adorable person and shares DIY tutorials and recipes on her blog. Today she is sharing with us a DIY Cover made with fabric. She is comparatively new to sewing and I am amazed by her talent! Her first sewing DIY Journal cover.

I’m relatively new to sewing, and the handful of projects I’ve completed come right out of necessity and are completely done without plan or pattern!

I have a journal that I was given by a friend to write down my daily joys in life. It was purchased around the holidays, so when I glanced at it the other day, I decided it was time to give it a more season friendly look. Here’s what I came up with!

Fabric Book Cover Instructions

DIY Cover Tutorial

I wish this was a quick explanation, but bear with me.

Cut a large rectangle so that when folded in half, the fabric folds over the closed journal to create a flap or book jacket flaps. Fold the top and bottom seams so they are even with the journal edges. Using an iron, press the seams you just created.

Fold and make a seam on the other two sides of the rectangle.

Press both that edge, as well as the edge of the book jacket flap where it folds over the cover.

The first place we need to sew is along the edges I highlighted below.

Place the book on the fabric cover and fold the pressed seams over to put the cover in place.

Pin the flaps to the cover and gently remove the cover to finish sewing.

Once the flaps are pinned, you need to sew along the edge of the remaining sides to create two pockets for the front and back covers.

Here’s another view of this instruction:

When finished, slide the book into the flaps to see it’s fancy new look!

DIY Journal Cover Instructions

But that’s not all folks!I decided to add a ribbon closure. For privacy. You know
I used brown thread to sew the ribbons on to show you how I did it.Please use the same thread color as your ribbon. It looks so noticeably “handmade”. I don’t mind for my own.

Measure your ribbon five times the width of the journal flap. Start the ribbon on the inside part of the flap and then wrap around the outside of the flap and pin into place.

Sew both ribbons onto the flaps {using the same color ribbon, remember?}, making sure to sew the ribbon only to the flap, and not the cover.

Insert your journal, close the cover, and tie the ribbons to keep prying eyes away.

Thanks to Hani for having me here today!

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial on how to make fabric book cover.

Thanks Sarah for such a beautiful fabric book cover and easy to understand tutorial.

Who won’t like to make it for their favorite books! Fabric covers are also good for Family Recipe Books, if something spills while cooking you can just toss the cover into the laundry and bravo!

Check out her blog for cute ideas and mouth watering recipes like: