Handmade Christmas Gifts — Journal Covers

I’m back with anoth­er tutori­al as part of the Quick & Easy Hand­made Gifts series with some speedy journ­al cov­ers.    I wanted some­thing I could make really quickly so that I could tick the teach­er gifts off my list and these simple cov­ers do exactly that.

Here’s what you will need:

• 1 hard cov­er journ­al book
• 2 fat quar­ters, 1 for the out­side and 1 for the spine and lining
• Fus­ible interfacing

1. 1. Start by meas­ur­ing the height of the journ­al and then the width right around.   This journ­al is 8 ¹⁄₂″ tall and 12 ¹⁄₂″ around.    Add ³⁄₄″ to each of these meas­ure­ments to determ­ine the sizes you will need to cut.     For these par­tic­u­lar journ­als I need the pieced cov­er and lin­ing to be 9 ¹⁄₄″ x 13 ¹⁄₄″ (8 ¹⁄₂″ + ³⁄₄″ = ⁹¹⁄₄″, etc).
      
   2. Refer­ring to the cut­ting dia­gram below cut:  2 — 6″ x 9 ¹⁄₄″ and 2 — 3 ¹⁄₂″ x 9 ¹⁄₄″ rect­angles from the cov­er fab­ric.  1 — 9 ¹⁄₄″ x ¹³¹⁄₄″ rect­angle, 2 — 3 ¹⁄₂″ x 9 ¹⁄₄″ and 1 — 2 ¹⁄₂″ x 9 ¹⁄₄″ rect­angles from the lin­ing fab­ric.    You will also need 1 — 8 ³⁄₄″ x 12 ³⁄₄″ rect­angle cut from the fus­ible interfacing.
      
   3. Using a ¹⁄₄″ seam allow­ance join the 2 ¹⁄₂″ x 9 ¹⁄₄″ lin­ing fab­ric to the 2 — 6″ x ⁹¹⁄₄″ cov­er fab­ric rect­angles.    Press seams open.   Trim to 9 ¹⁄₄″ x 13 ¹⁄₄″ and then fuse the inter­fa­cing to the wrong side of the cov­er pan­el with a hot dry iron.
   4. To make the inside pock­ets that will hold the journ­al in place take 1 of the 3 ¹⁄₂″ x 9 ¹⁄₄″ rect­angles cut from the cov­er fab­ric and 1 of the 3 ¹⁄₂″ x 9 ¹⁄₄″ rect­angles cut from the lin­ing fab­ric.     Place them togeth­er with right sides facing and then sew down one long side.   Press the seam open and then fold in half so that wrong sides are facing and give it a good press. Repeat with the remain­ing 3 ¹⁄₂″ x 9 ¹⁄₄″ rectangles.
      

1. With raw edges aligned place the pock­ets on to the right side of the lin­ing fab­ric as shown.   If you like you can pop a couple of pins on each pock­et to hold them in place.
2. Pop the cov­er pan­el right side down on top of the lining/pocket panel.
   
3. Using a ¹⁄₄″ seam allow­ance sew around the journ­al cov­er start­ing and end­ing on one short side.  Back­stitch at the start and end.  Make sure you leave a 3–4″ gap so you can turn it right side out when your done.  Trim the corners and then turn right side out and give it a good press then hand stitch the open­ing closed.

My cat lov­ing daugh­ter picked this fab­ric out for her favour­ite cat lov­ing teach­er, let’s hope Ms Brown’s love of cats extends to journals!

With two kids I needed a few of these so I made a more with some fab­ric strips I had in my scrap bins.  I pieced the strips in one 9 ¹⁄₄″ x 12″ rect­angle then chopped it in half before adding the spine to the centre of the cov­er pan­el and inter­fa­cing to the back.

All done in the nick of time since the high school­er fin­ishes today and our young­est next Fri­day.   Phew!   Fin­gers crossed this week­end provides some sew­ing time so I can get some more gifts made.

Have a great week and, for every­one in the USA, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!