Fabric Book Tutorial

dognut160
Nov 1
4 min read

One of my favorite gifts to give at baby showers, first birthday, to expected parent, or really anyone with a young child. Is a Fabric Book. They are short stories, usually around 8-10 pages. They are washable, and don't hurt when stepped on or thrown.

There is also lots of options to pick from. I usually get my panels at the fabric store, but I know you can fins some on Amazon, Spoonflower and Etsy. Just search "Fabric Book Panel to sew"

I am just going to show you how i like to sew my fabric books together. Most panels come with instructions, which are good. However I have some tricks, that help me out.

Supplies

Book Panel Fabric

Batting - Prefer to use scraps from previous project when possible

Thread, - match to edge of panel Scissors or Rotary cutter

Cutting out the panel

First read the panel instructions. Most say to cut on the line, but every once in a while, one will have you add the seam allowance.

If they say cut on the line, check the seam allowance for sewing them together. Most are going to be 1/4" seam allowance. However if you like 1/2 inch seam allowance, you will need to add the 1/4" to the line.

Cut out each set of pages from the panel, and use the instructions to arrange the pieces together. It will be cover/back-cover panel sewn to first/last page, and such. (This will be call a page set)

Cut batting pieces to roughly the same size, its okay if they are larger then the panels,

Making Sandwiches

With your two book pieces right sides together and in the same direction. So the bottom of the pages, are along the edge. place that down on a piece of batting.

You should of a stack that is batting, book page panel, book page panel.

Add a couple pins just to hold everything in place.

Everything should be nice and flat, with no bumps or wrinkles.

Do these for every page set.

Sewing

So along the edge of page, with 1/4 inch seam allowance. However on the bottom edge, in the center leave a opening that is about 1.5-2 inch wide.

I like to sew along the top edge first, then down one side. then bottom edge, finishing the last side edge. I find this helps, in case there is some shifting.

There usually isn't any shifting cause of the pins, but if a shift happens, I can catch it by the 2nd or 3rd side and there is less to take out.

Trimming page edges — trimming the edges

Trimming and ironing

Alright before turning the book right side out.

Trim off the excess batting. If you with for pointer corners, then trim the corner edges closer.

I usually use my scraps from quilts, so sometimes there is a random piece of fabric still sewn on the edge, as seen in this picture.

Next, Iron fabric side of this sandwich, to help set the seams, and make the turn over smoother.

Turn the books right side out, and re iron them smooth.

Closing the pages

For closing the holes at the bottom of the pages, you have a couple options. With both you need to put the seam allowance fabric inside and press those folds in place. This will set the line for the sewing, and gives you a glimpse at the final look.

Hand sew the holes closed. This will take longer but will over all will look more seamless

Sew closed the holes, just edge stitch about 1/4" longer on each side of the hole.

You can just edge stitch the whole page, if you really want to, sometimes the pop of colour is nice.

After closing the pages its on to the last step

Assemble the book.

Alright we are almost done.

Next stack the book page sets together,

Starting with cover pages, going in order of pages.

Align everything in the center, keeping in mind that often the cover page sets are usually slightly larger then the page sets.

Once you are happy with the placement, use clips or pins to hold the pages.

Next I draw with heat erase chalk my center stitch line. As you can see, sometimes i get it wrong, and need to re draw the line. Its also heat erase chalk, so if you hate it, iron it away.

After you get the line you like, stitch done the line with all the pages together. Be sure to back stitch at the start, end and it in the middle.