IT'S ME MADE MONDAY!!!
So let's make something!
Here is the tutorial for the handmade journal cover. I will sew another one along with you.
Let's get right stuck into it.
MATERIAL LIST: •Two old T-shirts, or one large one, if you want it tone on tone. •Sewing thread / embroidery thred /thin yarn •A pencil/pen/(washable/disappearing fabric marker, if you have one) •Sewing needle •Sewing pins •Measuring tape/ruler
If you want to make my design: •fray stop /school glue (glue stick) •fabric scraps
OPTIONAL: •Thimble (if you use one, some people don't) •printer (makes it easier, but if you use a pattern of something you have at home, all you need is a window)
HOW TO:
First off, some measurements.
Measure your journal. You need to know how tall, wide and tick it is. Write those numbers down.
The composition book I used measures 7 1/2 wide x 9 tall 3/4 x 1/2 inches thick (19 x 25 x 1 cm)
I measured that for you guys. I usually eyeball everything up to the last minute lol.
Now lets get all the seams out of the T-shirt.
Turn your T-shirt inside out.
Start at the lower edge and cut off the bottom hem. Cut as close to the seam as you can. If your shirt has side seams, lets tackle them next. Cut up along the side seam, then around one sleeve. Now do that to the other side as well.
Then cut the shoulder seams and around the collar so that one side of the T-shirt is completely free, the other one will have the colar still attached. Make sure there are no seams attached to the piece you want to use for the journal cover.
Repeat for the second shirt.
Now that we have two panels of fabric, lets cut them to size.
Look at your shirts and determine the largest patch of undisturbed fabric (read no prints, no holes, no stains).
For the journal cover, you will need the measurements of the journal, plus the inside flaps (about another 3 inches on each side) that hold the journal in place.
For my Journal that would look as follows:
3 inches front inside flap (7cm) + 7.5 inches front cover (19cm) + 1/2 inch thickness of journal (1cm) + 7.5 inches back cover (19cm) + 3 inches back inside flap (7cm) = 21.5 inches (approx 53 cm) add about 1 to 2 inches all around to that final measurement for uptake in the sewing and final seams!
I like to have my fabric a bit bigger and cut it down to size as I get done.
I ended up making my panel 14 inches tall and 23 inches wide. The fabric stretches a wee bit and if the inside flaps are not spot on 3 inches, it will still work. I would not make them much shorter though.
Cut one panel with your measurements out of each of your shirts.
At last we are ready to start on the sewing. First we need to sandwich the panels. T-shirt fabric has a right and a wrong side. You want to know which is which.
Here are some close up photos to show you.
You want to place the panel that will peek through the cut out with the right side facing up on your table, then take the top and set it on top of the first panel, also with right side facing up.
Pin, or clip the two panels together. (Honestly I didn't really pin it... T-shirts have a bit if a grab, but I sew a lot. If you are not sure, pin it.)
Find the halfway mark on the long sides of the panel and crease the center (or measure where the center is and crease it) then take some waste thread and sew a running stitch (up down, up down, or check out this tutorial for running stitch on youtube, no affiliation) from the bottom all the way to the top. Make sure the thread sticks out top and bottom, so it doesn't accidentally pull out. I do mine free hand. It doesn't have to be balls on accurate (my cousin Vinny quote).
Now measure and mark 3.5 inches in from each side and sew lines at that mark from top to bottom. This is where the flaps will fold.
Anything between the "fold line" and the center line is fair game for front and back decoration.
If you want to use my design, this is where your printer comes in. Print out either, or both designs. I put the tree on the front and because I was too lazy to dig out more T-shirts for a second cover, I put the celtic knot on the back.
Alternately you could use a design you have at home. Look through your cookie cutters for shapes, or your colouring books. Some quilting templates work, or draw something simple by hand. It can be an overall design, or something pictorial that stays within the space of front, or back cover.
Once you found your design, trace it onto printer paper by taping it to the window and holding the printer paper over it. It should shine through and you can trace it easily. If you are using cookie cutters,simply trace them directly onto the fabric sandwich.
Here are my designs. I am sorry. I don't have a fancy graphics program, so these are hand drawn by me. Feel free to adjust them any way you wish. 😘
You can adjust the size by simply checking the print preview. If the printed lines are not strong enough, go over them with a sharpie.
For my journal, the square around the tree came out to 6 x 7 inches. (15x18cm) The celtic knot came out 4 inches (10cm) in diameter.
Cut the printerpaper down to size, so you can stick it in between the two layers for easy transfer. I use a pencil for this, because I will either cut the pencil mark off later, or embroider over it, so you won't see it. You can use heat removable fabric markers (This only works if you have a light coloured fabric. For dark coloured fabrics you want to poke holes along all the lines, lay the *holy* paper (lol) on top of the fabric and then dust it with a bit of flour, or corn starch, or chalk, so the dust goes through the holes and marks the lines, then connect the dots with a white marker.) Or use any of your preferred transfer methods.
Center the design on the fabric you have allotted for the front and back covers. Make sure that it is right side up!
Now that the design is transfered, here are a few important things to remember.
The lines in the tree image are THE CUT LINES, NOT THE STITCH LINES!! This is important. When you work the tree design, make sure your stitches are 1/8 of an inch outside of the line. You need that 1/8 of an inch to keep the fabric from unravelling after you cut it and losing the stitches.
For the celtic knot design, the lines ARE the stitch lines!! Because there are lines going over and under and you can't cut that lol. So we will take out the negative space instead of the actual shape on that one. If you have questions on that, please ask them in the forum under "talk about tutorials" and I will answer them ASAP.
For your own designs, you have to figure out if your lines should be the stitchlines, or the cut lines. Keep in mind the 1/8 border rule and how much would be left to cut away and show off the design, then base your decission on that!
Ok. Lets get started with the tree.
I used 2 strands of embroidery thread for it. You can use sewing thread, but I would take it at least double. You want to see the stitched lines when you are done.
The stitch we are using is the running stitch again. I do not use the tape trick from the tutorial, so I cannot tell you how well it would work here. I also do sometimes leave the knots on top. Because why not?
So you stitch all the way around the tree /your motive. Knot off your thread (front or back, left to your discretion) and start clipping the fabric away. Start by separating the front and back panels inside your stitched motive at the widest part. Then, with very sharp scissors, make a small cut. Make sure you DO NOT catch the bottom fabric! And slowly, carefully follow the outline to be cut.
Once the tree is cut out, you can go ahead and cut out small leaves from fabric scraps. Mine are a bit smaller than a penny (between 1/2 to 1 inch, or 1 and 2cm).
After cutting them out, apply some glue stick to the back of the entire leaf (or dab some fray stop, if you have it). This will stop it from fraying too much. Let the glue dry.
Lay them around the tree and make sure you like the placement. When you have a pleasing design, you can dab a bit more glue to the center of each leaf and glue it to the background. That will ensure they stay put and you don't have to remeber where each one goes, or pin them all.
Start stitching them all down with a running stitch again.
Here is a view of the celtic knot design and where I made the cuts:
After both front and back cover are decorated to your satisfaction, you can finish the journal cover construction. Make sure all the beads/trim/fringe or whatever you chose is sewn on and secure in place.
Since the only thing holding the top and bottom fabric together at this point is the stitching around the motives, we need to connect the rest, so it won't flop open anymore and gives the whole thing a bit more structure. If you have done an overall design, your fabric is already "quilted" a bit more.
You can decide to just stitch lines, or other shapes over the rest of the fabric. Or, if you like an uncluttered look, just connect the fabrics around the edges.
First let's square off the fabric panels. If you already have it all squared off to begin with, you just check now if it is out of alignment anywhere. My fabric was all over the place, so I had to square it off. I do that by laying my big quilting ruler (straight edge, whatever you happen to have) over the top edge of the panel. Then I use a second ruler and make sure I center the design and it is all level and within the measurements I need for the end result.
If you don't have rulers you can also lay the journal on top of the fabric and center it over the design, then draw the lines along top and bottom edge of the journal.
I mark all the straight lines on top, bottom and 3 inches from the front and back edge of the journal for the fold flaps. In the photo below the pencil mark denotes where the top and bottom fabric will be sewn together, so they don't flap open. In my journal, top and bottom lines are 10 inches apart, because my journal was 9 and some odd inches, remember?
I don't think you can see the lines on the short edges, but they are there. Trust me! This gives you an idea of the finished journal cover. You can also see the stitched folding lines and the center spine line here. And what a fine job I did of keeping them straight 😂😂😂😂
I also cut the edges a bit closer to where they need to be. There was just too much fabric around lol. But I still left about an inch more than I needed top and bottom. I will cut the cover to the correct size at the very end, when all the swing is done. This gives me time to do any last minute adjustments, should I need to make them. I work under the motto: cutting off a bit more at the end is easy, putting it back on is harder.
Repeat on the other edge. Then cut the fabric straight 1/8 of an inch as border from the stitch line.
Now flip over the whole thing, so the inside is facing you. Next we will fold the fabric flaps on the fold lines to the inside and finish the cover. Make sure it is all square and everything lines up, then pin, or clip the fabric.
At this point I like to "try it on" to see where I am.
Yes. Top and bottom are still very much too long, but the front and back panels are doing what they are supposed to.
Open the cover and adjust the fit by pulling on the flaps toward the inside of the journal. T-shirt fabric is stretchy. You want it a bit tight, but remember you still have to close it, so when you are finished adjusting the fit front and back, to keep it even, close the journal. It should be snug, but not stretched once it is closed, if that makes sense. lol Pin everything in place, so nothing moves when you take the cover off the journal.
Take the journal out of the cover without poking yourself, or losing all the pins/clips.
Once the journal is out, flip it again, so the outside is facing you. Start stitching on the folded top right edge and make sure you are going through all layers! You should have 4 layers of fabrick to go through, since you folded the flap to the inside and are sewing through all of it.
Keep sewing to the opposite edge and again catch all 4 layers of fabric when you get to the folded part. This will make the actual flap that holds the journal in. Repeat on the bottom edge.
Cut the top and bottom to within 1/8th of an inch from that sewing line, take out the temporary stitches from the fold lines and the center spine.
Presto! Finished!
Give it a hand wash if you used washable markers. Don't agetate it too roughly. Roll into a towel and squeeze out excess water, lay flat to dry, give it a light press if necessary. You may have to reapply the glue to the leaves. Since school glue is also washable.
You are finished! ❤
I hope it makes sense lol. I am still very much in "instagram" parameters and forget that I can put more photos and more words lol
Wow. What a process. What a beautiful gift to own.