Golden Cover {Sewing}

Friday 3 May 2013

Last week, I mentioned that I was all set to make a fabric cover for Baby MiH's red book - the UK health booklet. However even if I had all the materials, there was one key piece missing, the construction of the cover. I was not sure how I was going to go about it - would I take out the actual red cover? would I need some transparent plastic cover for the inside? My usual response is to leave until some genius idea (usually from someone else) comes along. And it always does - at some point. 

I stumbled across the Bloom journal cover tutorial and loved the construction - all I needed to do was to change all the measurements, discard the scrappy embellishment but keep the basics to make it my own. And ta dah - a deluxe red book cover! 



I cannot tell you how happy I am with the result. For once it actually looks like what I had in my head - probably because I made some trial versions of bits of the cover beforehand - a first!




Not sure there is a lot to note - the tutorial is brilliantly written even though it took me a while to get my head around the last step. I had issues with measurements, so make sure you do your maths correctly - to be honest there may be a simpler way to present the measurements so that it can be more easily adapted, but she did not make the tutorial for the red book. 



The result looks super neat with the inside fabric - and a bit sturdier to keep the red book in my bag. It also looks great from the side. 



I also discovered the blanket stitch on my machine - it is awesome. I am really crap at doing this stitch, it is never neat, always with different sizes, and I find with appliqué that it is harder to go through the fabric (oh yes the cross is appliqué - check me out!). But the machine, well there is no stopping it, is there! I did add some gold hand stitching to make it fancy, and mirror the main fabric.   



So what did I use?

- Golden garden fabric by Alexander Henry found at Plush Addict
- Red Kona, can be found at Simply Solids
- The inside fabric is part of the giveaway I won at Plum and June (sponsored by Skye Reeve)
- DMC golden metallic thread (I used 2 strands)
- you will also need some lightweight fusible interfacing, found at Seamstar 



My bag looks much better... so what can I cover next? I am on a roll! 

Joining other finishes at TGIFF hosted by Textile Diva this week and Crazy Mom quilts. 

20 comments:

  1. It is really very lovely, Baby MiH's red book looks great.

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  2. That is a brilliant idea! Those red books are stupidly flimsy and my children's ones always ended up looking awful!

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  3. You will the envy of all the other mums

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  4. Everyone will want one now. Looks so much better than the red plastic.

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  5. What a great idea. My girls are 16 and 19 and I still have their red books!

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  6. It turned out beautifully! The cover is so practical and completely gorgeous! I bet all the other moms at the pediatrician's office will be eye-balling it when you pull it out!

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  7. This cover is terrific! It's so modern and snazzy. Your pediatrician will be so impressed when you whip that baby out!

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  8. Oh I LOVE it!! Well done you, such a stylish mummy :)

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  9. Journal covers are fun to make and this is lovely!!

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  10. You did a fabulous job. Lovely fabrics too

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  11. I just love your fabrics, Nat. What a great job you did with this. Fancy gold stitches and all. :D

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  12. So much nicer with the new cover. It looks fabulous.

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  13. It's very pretty! I love your fabric choices! Well done!
    Christine
    ChrisW Designs

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  14. Just had to pop by to check out your 'red book' after you commented on my book covers! You really stirred some memories for me and, yes, it looks so much better covered!!! :)

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