Monday, March 23, 2015

Book Clutch DIY

By Viki Tiamat

The other day I saw this neat book clutch on Pinterest and since I am a book binder myself,I immediately  wanted one too :)
And since I decided to make one for myself, I thought you might want to make one for yourself as well ,so while making my own I took pics of stages for you to see how it's done ;)


To make a Book Clutch you obviously will need a book.
One with hard cover which you won't mind destroying ...
I don't have books like that,so I made my own cover 

To make a cover you'll need -

  • Book Board
  • Book Cloth or other heavy material
  • Glue (I use Elmer's glue)
  • Brush to apply your glue with
  • X-Acto knife 

Cut two same size boards and one narrow board for book's spine.
The size of the boards will establish the overall size of your book clutch.
The spine will be the depth of your clutch
My book is a tad smaller than A5 sheet
 

Apply glue on your chosen cloth and on one side of all boards and wrap the boards with it
Leave about 3-4mm margin between the cover boards and the spine to allow opening 


 Set to dry. Then decorate as you wish
I hand screen printed mine :)

Now when your cover is ready and set, prepare the materials for the clutch


You'll need-
  • Zipper (long enough to cover three sides of your cover )
  • 2 end sheets cut to size of the cover
     I'm using the FAB Canvas Corp. French Script Printed Canvas sheets
  • 1 spine sheet cut two times larger than the spine width and same size as the spine height
  • 2 tongues to cover zipper's ends
    These beauties are too from CC Brands and are named Tile Printed Canvas
  • 2 front and 2 lining pieces for the sides of the zipper cut the width of the zipper and the length of the zipper + the two tongues
    I'm using both "Tile Printed Canvas and Chevron Printed Canvas sheets for these
  • sewing machine (optional)
  • glue gun

Begin by setting zipper's tongues and sides- 
First sew (or if you can't sew,hot glue ) the tongues to both ends of the zipper and after attach the sides  . Do so by sandwiching the zipper between two side layers ( front and lining)  and sewing or glue in along the zipper teeth.   When done,you should have a fully enclosed zipper that looks good both from front and the reverse 


Take your enclosed zipper and with a hot glue gun glue it into the book cover

Start gluing from the middle of the spine and proceed to one of the covers
Notice how the tongue of the zipper is glued parallel to the spine ,while the rest is glues horizontally, beginning where the actual zipper teeth start !!!


When you reach the end follow the same instructions as above to set the second bottom tongue (again gluing it parallel to the spine!!! )

 After the first half a clutch glued in,open the zipper and do the exact same procedure to the other side of the cover

When all is glued in proceed to treat the inside of the clutch.
Begin by gluing in the spine sheet-
Fold the top and bottom raw edges in (glue them with glue gun) and lay a layer of Elmer's glue on top

Place the sheet on top of the spine and neaten it smooth

Repeat the same steps for the end sheets -this time folding all four raw edges in ,hot gun gluing the ends and finally adhering it all with Elmer's glue to the inside covers of your now finished book clutch :)


Take a minute to admire your work





Neat project right ?! 
See'ya soon with more DIY ideas
bear_hugs

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Super quick sewn Notebook DIY

By Viki Tiamat

Everyone likes a nice looking jotter and non will look better than one done by yourself !!
Now days,with the HUGE variety of beautiful designer card stocks,this project is easy as a pie.

Here is a quick tut on how to make your own beautiful sewn notebook


What you'll need is :
10 printer sheets (can be blank or printed)
1 12x12" cardstock sheet by Tattered Angels #20864
x-acto knife
piercer
polyester thread
needle

So to start with, you'll take all your printer sheets stuck them together and fold them in half

Cut your 12" card stock to end up being 21 cm high .
Leave the width as is.
This will make your jotter's cover .
  Fold it in half


 Place the folded sheets inside the cover .Mark  6 dots and pierce them throughout all the layers

 Now we will sew the jotter (we will be using the easy peasy saddle stitch )
Take your poly thread ,measure and cut it to two length of your notebook


Start inside the notebook on one end and make a simple running stitch passing through the holes
Leave a 2" tail!




 When you reach the end ,continue the running stitch backwards to meet the tail

When you finished stitching your thread will come outside to the cover side
Make a loop and  knot it

Push the needle back inside through the same hole you just came out of


Tie an additional square knot and cut the ends short

Burn the ends with a lighter and your jotter is ready to write in and enjoy from



Let me tell you, this FUN tangled notebook will make someone soooo happy!!!
Aside the fact that Zentanle Art is super IN this season and giving such a lovely designed present will make anyone drool on , the  Tattered Angels "Tattered Tangles"  cardstock collection sheet I used to make it can also be easily drawn in, it's mistable and paintable !!!
So basically, you get one notebook and can end up with a completely different one at the end of use-just let your imagination fly and guide you towards all together new creation  - color it in with your markers, mist it , glaze or paint it...anything goes,just have fun doing it :)
Uh, and one more thing-the reverse side of the paper is blank, but has the same great finish, so you can add your own designs to the inside cover and you'll never be bored in the classroom again ;)
bear_hugs