~sTyLIn' at CbS~

Community Bible Study has been a wonderful blessing to me from the start. Being in a new area and my home church being very small with limited meeting times, this source of study and companionship has fed my spirit immensely. I participated as a student for two years and my four boys were in the children's ministry as well. But this year the Lord has called me to be a "Core Leader" to facilitate a class. A huge endeavor and one that I am looking forward to. 

Our studies include a spiral bound workbook that we use for the year and since it's not decked out in the colors that I prefer... I decided to use some fabulous fabric that I got for a deal some time ago and create a fabulous fabric book cover that I can reuse each year. Not only that, but I even went a little insane and personalized it with the names of the books that I've studied with CBS as part of the creation... just wait 'til you see!!!

TA DA!!!!

It not only holds my book but I included pockets for a pen and highlighter, the memory verse cards that are included in our books to cut out and use for reference, a page marker, and a closure to keep it neat and tidy to and from class! Whew! And it was all simple  cuts and straight stitches. Really!!

So, are you interested in a tute?

Supplies:
main fabric
coordinating fabric
flannel
craft weight fusible interfacing
button
hair band
piece of ribbon
matching thread
sewing machine
needle for hand sewing
split ring

Here's the cut list:
cover ~ 13" x 27" (cover)
interior ~ 13"x 27" (I used muslin)
fusible interfacing ~ 12" x 26"
flannel interlining ~ 11" x 25"
pen holder ~ 3" x 5 1/4" - cut 2; one of main fabric, one of coordinating fabric
memory card pocket ~ 3" x 4 3/4" - cut 2; one of main fabric, one of coordinating fabric
ribbon ~ 17" (or so)

Put the two pen holder fabric pieces right sides together and sew with a 1/4" leaving an opening to turn right side out - if you make sure that the opening is on the bottom of the pockets you won't have to do any extra hand sewing. After sewing and turning right side out, fold the opening raw edges inward and press to create a tidy rectangle. Do the same with the card pocket. Set those aside for now.

Take the front cover (main) fabric and put the flannel in the middle then lay the interfacing on top with the fusible side down and iron following the fusible interfacing directions.

Fold the ends in 4 1/4 inches - these will eventually become the pockets that your book cover will slip into. So, when you fold it in half now it will begin to look like your cover. This is how I determined where I wanted the button closure and the pen and note card pockets. You'll want to unfold those flaps as you attach the button and pockets - it's not time to make those flaps yet.

Sew on the button first and then pin the pockets in place. Sew the card pocket close to the edge on the left, bottom and right edges. It's good to give a back stitch at the top corners to ensure a little extra durability. frequently for studying - right??> You'll repeat this same process with the pen pocket ~BUT~ you will sew an extra seam down the middle to create two narrow pockets. Pretty cool, huh?

Now let's start putting this thing together...

Place the cover right side up and take your ribbon for the page marker and place it a little left of center at the top. Carefully place the interior fabric wrong side up on top on the cover - so now the right sides are together, right? Pin at the ribbon and corners to match edges and then the rest.

Sew along all edges with 1/4 inch seam leaving a three inch opening on the bottom for turning. Clip the corners and then turn right side out. Fold those raw edges of the opening neatly inside and press. Now fold those ends in FOUR inches and pin. Set your book into the pinned cover to see if there needs to be any adjustments and to determine what size seam to use. It should be about a 1/4". After you've fine tuned your cover sew your last two seams on the top and bottom.

I used a hair band for the closure and there is probably a better solution to this particular detail of this cover but this is what I did. Nothing fancy, just sewed the band to the back of the cover - I might consider a different approach next time but this seems to work for now.

 

Next I sewed that split ring to the bottom of the page marker ribbon. Now you can add all sorts of goodies to the ribbon. I took my metal stamps and stamped the books of the Bible on washers that I have studied so far with CBS and attached them. As a special reminder I added a little rhinestone to the "Acts" washer to represent my Core Leader involvement.

I think I will make some extra ones for later. And try some alternate decorated covers. Maybe a rag cover like my purses? Ooh, ooh. That sounds fun. And how about some Anthropolgie inspired covers with those cool lookin' ruffles? Yeah - I'm seeing endless possibilities here...