Friday, September 09, 2011

Stretchy Book Cover Tutorial


My eldest daughter needed book covers this year.  According to her teachers, it's a state law to keep textbooks covered.  And my cooler than cool daughter did not want the hideous paper book covers she was forced to put on her books during class.  Oh the horror!!  A couple years ago my ex bought her stretchy book covers that were between $3 and $5 a piece, but they were all too small for her ginormous middle school books this time around.  Apparently, there are these same stretchy book covers that are super sized, but they are even more expensive.  I, being the frugal sewing mama that I am, was hellbent on figuring a way around this. 

I took a look at one of these stretchy book covers and realized I could whip one of these out in a matter of minutes.  And then I realized I have this entire plastic tote FULL of dance lycras from way back when Miss Em was still dancing solos and I was making costumes that would be perfect.  So, she dug through and picked the fabric you see above.  I whipped up the book cover from cut to finish in less than 5 minutes, literally. It is made out of neon orange super soft velvet.  It’s heavenly and plush!  Then I thought, what a great tutorial for the beginning of the school year to share with you guys! 


Your time will be cut to bare minimum if you do this with a serger.  However, if you don't have a serger, you can still easily make these using the overlock or zigzag stitch on your sewing machine.  It's literally two rows of sewing and you're done!  Also, one yard of dancewear lycra is 60 inches wide, so you should get approximately 3-6 book covers out of 1 yd, depending on the thickness of the book. 

Guess what?  I already have a new tutorial lined up for next week.  It's an upcycled tutorial.  I can't wait to show it.  I have all the pics, just have to write the tut, which is the easiest part.  Can you tell how proud of myself I am?  I get so mad when I can't finish a project I have planned for weeks or months on end for my blog.

I think I'm actually going to be able to have a tutorial a week from now on while my creative juices are flowing.  I'm so excited!!  I don't know if this is just rewards for being my last semester of college, but my classes are so easy this time around with next to nothing in homework that I'm able to do other things besides read textbooks. 

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