How to Decorate a Plain Notebook with Embroidery and Make It Look Designer
A step-by-step tutorial for decorating a notebook cover with ready-made embroidery: calculate the piece sizes with a simple formula, reinforce the wrong side with fusible interfacing, join the embroidered motif to the fabric and lace trim, assemble the front and back pieces with inner flaps, and close it up with a blind stitch.
IntermediateFree
Translated
Things you will learn
For this project you'll need a hardbound notebook of any size, a ready-made embroidered motif, a few cuts of cotton fabric, cotton lace trim, and basic sewing supplies.
Before you start, wash the fabric cuts to check the dye's fastness and the fabric's shrinkage.
Calculate the cover piece's size with the formula: (embroidery motif width + inner flap + seam allowance on both sides) × (notebook height + seam allowance + ease allowance).
To keep the notebook's own cover from showing through the embroidery, it's best to reinforce the wrong side with fusible interfacing.
Sew the front and back pieces right sides together, stitch along the short sides, turn right side out, and close the remaining opening with a blind stitch.
What you'll get
You'll get a notebook with a removable fabric cover, featuring a ready-made embroidered motif on the front and lace trim along the seam where it meets the fabric.
Materials and tools
Materials
A hardbound notebook or journal, any size works; the example uses a notebook measuring 1.5/22/17 cm — recalculate the pieces if yours is a different size
A ready-made embroidered motif, placed on the cover's front panel
Cuts of cotton fabric, needed for the cover's front and back; wash them first to check for shrinkage and dye fastness
Cotton lace trim, sewn along the seam where the embroidered motif meets the fabric
Basic sewing supplies, thread, needles, and other basic sewing tools
Tools
Dressmaker's pins, needed to try out the embroidered motif's placement on the cover without risking stains from marking directly
Fusible interfacing, reinforces the wrong side so the notebook's own cover doesn't show through the embroidery
Iron, needed to press the seams and give the finished cover a final press
Preparation
Wash the fabric cuts
Before you start decorating, wash the fabric cuts to check the dye's fastness and the fabric's shrinkage.
Try out the embroidered motif's placement
Hold the embroidered piece up to the cover and choose the best placement for the design, pinning it with dressmaker's pins so you don't stain the piece while marking the boundaries.
Calculate the piece sizes
The sizes of the embroidery motif, the inner flap, and the cover base are calculated using simple formulas.
Work out the embroidery width and flap size
Since this notebook is 17 cm wide, we'll set aside 14 cm for the embroidered motif and 3 cm for the main fabric; these numbers are up to you and depend on your own design. Leave 7 cm for the cover's inner flap — for a smaller notebook, you can make the flap narrower.
Calculate the finished fabric piece's size
To calculate the cover piece's size correctly, use this formula: (embroidery motif width + inner flap + seam allowance on both sides) × (notebook height + seam allowance + ease allowance) = the finished fabric piece's size. In this example, that comes out to 23/25 cm.
Calculate the front and back piece sizes
Cut the base for the notebook's front and back pieces using this formula: height = cover height + 2 cm seam allowance + 1 cm ease allowance; width = cover width × 2 + the notebook's thickness + inner flap × 2 + 2 cm seam allowance + 1 cm ease allowance.
Reinforce the wrong side with interfacing
Fusible interfacing keeps the notebook's own cover from showing through the fabric cover.
Iron on the fusible interfacing
To keep the notebook cover from showing through the embroidery, iron fusible interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric.
Assemble the front panel with the embroidery and lace
The embroidered motif is joined to the front fabric, and the seam is finished with lace trim.
Sew the embroidered motif to the fabric
Lay the embroidered motif and the front-panel fabric right sides together and sew. Press the resulting seam open.
Sew the lace trim over the seam
Sew the lace trim over the seam where the two fabrics meet.
Assemble the whole cover
The front and back pieces are joined, turned right side out, and fitted to the notebook.
Sew the pieces along the short sides
Lay the front and back decor fabric right sides together and sew along the short sides. Turn right side out and press.
Fit the piece onto the notebook
Fit the piece onto the notebook and even out the inner flaps so they're the same length on each side.
Stitch and close the cover
The final seams secure the flaps and give the cover its finished look.
Pin the flap and turn the piece
Pin the flap to the top layer, leaving the front lining layer untouched. Turn the piece to the wrong side and even out the flaps.
Topstitch the cover piece
Topstitch the cover piece, sewing from the center outward toward the edges so the fabric doesn't skew. If anything bothers you along the way, don't hesitate to turn the cover right side out and check it — you can try it on the notebook and fix issues at any point.
Trim the excess and close with a blind stitch
Once you're happy with it, trim away the excess interfacing and corners. Turn right side out, press, and close the remaining opening with a blind stitch.
Finish and variations
Finish
Use your finished notebook
The finished notebook, in its fabric cover decorated with embroidery and lace, is ready to use as a designer journal or as a gift.
Variations
A differently sized notebook
If your notebook is a different size than the example, simply recalculate the pattern pieces using the formulas given.
IntermediateFree
