S U P P L I E S

To make a book you'll need a yard of 100 gram Lutradur, half a yard of canvas fabric, a yard of  Stacey Shape Flex 101, 2 yards of Wonder Under  **  1/2 yard of fabric for the cover  **  9" x 12" 90# Watercolor paper - each book will need 16 sheets  **  Aleene's Super Thick Tacky glue in the jar or the bottle  **  Color Wash sprays if you want to paint your own fabric or if you want to add color to an commercial one  **  I used cotton velveteen for two of my covers and painted them with Color Wash

You'll need the template for the placement of the holes in the signatures.  You can download that by clicking here.  Click here to download the 5 hole pamphlet stitch guide

CUTTING & PREP WORK

1.  Lutradur - cut 3 pieces, each 10" x 14"
2. Wonder Under - cut 4 pieces, each 10" x 14"
3.  Fuse 3 pieces of Lutradur together using 2 of the 4 pieces of Wonder Under.  Fuse the remaining 2 pieces of Wonder Under to the front and back of the Lutradur sandwich.  DO NOT REMOVE THE RELEASE PAPER after you fuse those last 2 pieces!  Square up the sandwich and then cut the Lutradur into the front & back covers and the spine.  The Lutradur sandwich should be 9 1/2" tall once you square it and then you will cur the following 3 pieces from the length: 2 pieces that measure 6 1/4" x 9 1/2" and 1 piece that measures 3/4" x 9 1/2".
4.  Canvas lining fabric - cut 1 piece 9 1/2" x 13 1/2"
5.  Cover fabric & Stacey Shape Flex 101 - cut each a little larger than 10" x 14", then fuse the SF 101 to the wrong side of the fabric.  Cut into a 9 1/2" x 13 1/2" piece.
6.  Fold the sheets of watercolor paper in half to form the pages.  You will need 4 signatures, each containing 4 folded sheets of 90# watercolor paper.  If you want more pages your book you will need to allow for a wider spine and increase the size of all of the other components too.

The video will walk you through the rest of the assembly process.  It's fun, easy, and the books make fabulous gifts!

Here is the layout of the Lutradur covers and spine on the cover fabric.  Be sure to leave that scant 1/8" between the spine and covers.  That allows the covers to close without binding.

The three books I made while we were working on the video.  The one in the center will be my book of quotes.  When I work on pages in my art journal I tend to use quotes rather than write about my day or events.  I'm forever scribbling quotes that I like on scraps of paper and they end up all over the place.  This way I can keep them all in one place and have the book to refer to when I'm making pages.

This was the first sample that I made.  The cover fabric is 100% cotton velveteen painted using Color Wash sprays.

I had to improvise the inside of the front and back covers.  When I was messing around I miscut the canvas lining fabric and it was far too short to completely cover the Lutradur.  Ooops.

The third of the three books.  This one also has a painted cotton velveteen cover.  I fused painted Misty Fuse to it for added surface dimension.

By the third book I'd gotten the measurements correct and there are no gaps or other boo-boos!  I painted the canvas fabric to match the velveteen.

My favorite!  These are totally my colors. When I painted the fabric I was enchanted with this piece and knew it had to be held for something special.

I never did finish any of the books with ribbon around the edges...  There were too many other ideas running through my head that kept distracting me!  This one remains unfinished but for the free motion stitching around the edges.