Iron Craft 2012--IC5

This week we were challenged to go to the 99 cent store and buy materials to inspire us to make a project. I knew exactly what I wanted to make this week. Last year Thing1 and Thing2 made this project. Rather than recover the front and back covers of the composition book, I decided to make new covers. Rather than use fabric for the covers, I decided to use paper that I would buy at the 99 cent store. The only materials that I used that weren't from the store was the thread (which was allowed) and book cloth (which I cheated and used scraps that cost less than 99 cents).

(above) The before and after shot

To do this project (I will have a step by step tutorial later), you need to cut two boards to cover. You also need two pieces of book cloth. One piece will act as the spine between the two boards and the other will act as the hinge that will connect the text block (the pages from the notebook) to the inside of the book. You also need two end sheets for the interior of the book.

Second, you must separate the pages from the original covers. This is easy to do since the manufacturers use a running stitch to connect everything. I use a big clip to keep the pages together. Using a piece of book cloth for a hinge, you then use a pamphlet stitch (I used a five-hole stitch) to connect the text block to the hinge.

(above) here is the text block sewn to the hinge.

The next step is to cut your coverings for the front and back boards. I used a large gift bag to use as a covering. While the material was a little difficult to work with (cheap materials usually are), I eventually used half of the bag for my purposes.

(above) the deconstruction of the gift bag. There

is still a lot of material that can be used.

Once everything was connected, all I had to do was use scrapbook paper for the end sheets. As luck would have it, there were no duplicates so I had to use coordinating paper. I thought that the juxtaposition of the circles on the interior fit well with the boxes on the exterior.