Something Different

Something Different

I’m still trying to finish projects and WIPs so I can tidy my summer sewing stuff away. I found an unfinished project from years ago when I was putting some felt offcuts away. Hopefully, this link will show some of the pieces I made, if not search my photostream for ’embellished’. It inspired me to finish it off and make some more. So I had a rummage through my offcuts and found lots of nice ones, so many that I started to think that maybe I wanted to do something a bit bigger, like a notebook cover (surprise, surprise!). I found some thin pieces of felt to use as a base and sewed them together. I really wanted to make something the complete opposite of the carefully measured and carefully and neatly sewn notebook covers I usually make. So after spreading all the felt offcuts out, I got some contrasting sewing thread and set to work attaching the pieces to my felt base. I didn’t expect it to take as long as it did and I got through quite a few episodes of Foyle’s War while I sewed 🙂

When I’d attached all the pieces, I attached a piece of thin blue cotton fabric to hide all the stitching and thread. Then I folded the flaps in, machine stitched them in place, then hand stitched the top and bottom edges. I think you’ll agree, that it’s nothing like what I usually make 🙂  This is the front:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd this is the back:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI tried hard to make sure nothing matched, and that it wasn’t too neat or even, including the top and bottom edges, I just followed the edges of the base felt. This is the cover opened out:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI didn’t attach felt pieces to the base where the flaps would be, I didn’t want it to be too thick. The felt I used for the flaps was originally white merino and cotton which I experimented on with direct dyeing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI also made a strap closure for it in much the same way as I made the book:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt just fits around the book and clips together with a Delrin clip.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
I thought this notebook would stick out like  a sore thumb in my etsy shop, but surprisingly it doesn’t. But maybe that’s because it probably has a little offcut from almost every other piece in there with it!

16 thoughts on “Something Different

    1. Thanks 🙂
      Yeah, I wish Diaries came in a more uniform size so it’d be guaranteed the cover was re-usable.

  1. It’s very pretty! (Also your Delrin clip idea works very well.)

    I like the ‘long/short/long/short’ stitch you used on the inside.

    Artful messy is not always easy to achieve, but you’ve done it with this.

    1. Thanks, Lyn 🙂
      I’d forgotten how hard it is to sew with regular sewing needles, I think I need a few thimbles!

  2. It is fun to do something different, isn’t it? I think it fits in with your others very well. I also like the long and short stitch you used.

    1. Thanks, Ruth 🙂
      I like doing blanket stitch like that, and I got to be a little bit neat 🙂

  3. It is a great piece of work. I often use bits and pieces of fabrics from other projects, but the felt really is unusual with it’s added texture. Patchwork with Pizazz.

    1. Thanks, Judy 🙂
      Yeah, I’ve done collages in fabric and felt, and although the fabric ones are nice the felt ones do look a bit more interesting.

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