DIY Fabric Notebook Cover

Turn an ordinary composition notebook into a special scrapbook or junk journal by sewing a fabric cover. Learn how to sew a simple quilted fabric book cover with the help of this step-by-step sewing tutorial.

Junk journaling is all the rage and today I thought I’d share a fun way to turn a regular notebook into something really special and worthy of holding all of your treasured memories. Let’s make a fabric notebook cover!

This post is sponsored by Hobby Lobby.

Did you have to cover your school textbooks in brown paper bags as a kid? Yeah, me too. Well, this is the same concept but the pretty version. We’re going to sew covers that slip over a composition notebook the same way we used to make those brown paper bag covers.

This is a simple sewing project for beginners. I’m going to walk you through every step!

It starts like all good creative projects with a trip to Hobby Lobby. Let’s head to the fabric section! Woohoo!

Materials Needed

If you’ve never purchased fabric before, look through the fabric section at Hobby Lobby and choose two fabrics you love. Bring the entire bolt (the big folded roll they are displayed on) to the big cutting table there in the fabric section. Ask the worker to please cut 1/3 yard from each bolt. The worker will cut the right sized pieces for you, fold them up, attach a piece of paper to the fabric and you’ll be ready to go! The cashier will look at the paper and know how to ring you up.

Note: Regular sheets of craft felt are too small for this project, but if that’s what you have, you could sew two pieces together to make the size you need.

Step 2: Place the two fabric pieces right sides together and sew around the edges using a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Leave a hole in one side for turning, like this:

Step 3: Flip the fabric right side out and push out the corners. Press all seams with an iron until everything looks smooth and lays flat.

Step 4: Insert the piece of felt. Center it inside of the fabric. It should touch the top and bottom seams and be smaller than the fabric with equal “empty” spots on both sides.

Step 5: Pin the felt in place, then find the center of the fabric and sew through all layers. This stitch line matches up with the notebook spine. Then top stitch all the way around the fabric edges, making sure to close up the hole you used to insert the felt. If you are having a hard time sewing through the thick felt layer, use a walking foot if you have one.

Step 6: Fold the flaps on both sides over until they’re folded where the felt stops inside. Line up all the edges and press, then pin in place. Use an invisible stitch (also called ladder stitch or blind stitch) to attach these flaps so they make little pockets. See this quick invisible stitch video tutorial here. You can also see me doing this step in the video tutorial at the bottom of this post. This step needs to be done this way or the notebook won’t fit inside.

Now your cute project is complete and you can slip the chipboard covers of your notebook into the side flap pockets.

And look, I know it’s extra, but we LOVE extra around here. We ADORE extra. So I made a quilted notebook cover!

I gathered a bunch of darling fabric from Hobby Lobby, cut out sooooo many tiny little 2.5 inch squares, then sewed them all together following all the rules I learned about quilting in my high school sewing class. (Thanks Mrs. Grow!) Then I followed all the same steps as above and here’s my giant quilted notebook cover:

It’s so special! I love how cozy and heartfelt it feels to have the quilted cover. I made it because I had the idea and was just dying to try it, but I haven’t decided what I’m going to put in that big, gorgeous sketch book yet. Have any ideas for me? I’m thinking it would make a killer scrapbook, but I gotta make it gooood, whatever it becomes, so hit me up with your ideas!

DIY Fabric Notebook Cover Video Tutorial

This project would make such a nice gift for a scrapbooker. Both my young adult and teenage daughters asked if they could have the blue and white bow notebook cover… so that must mean it’s pretty cute. LOL. And if you are looking for a thoughtful gift for an artist, make a cover to fit a beautiful sketch book and they will LOVE it!

Anyway, I hope you have fun with it. Happy crafting!