If you are somebody who loves books, then no doubt you understand, the more we carry books with us, the more we need to protect them from wear and tear.
Luckily, if you have some sewing skill you can easily get right from the comfort of your home. Combining practicality and creativity, book sleeves offer protection from various potential damages. This includes; scratches, stains, and creases.
No, what if you are not confident with your skills? Then you need a simple but effective guide that breaks down the process into simple to follow steps.
That’s why we explore everything you need to know to effectively sew your very own book sleeves.
Here is a step by step guide to sewing a book sleeve.
1.Eight Simple Steps To Sew A Book Sleeve
Alright, without wasting any time, let’s get into the crucial steps right away. There are particularly eight manageable steps you need to take. Let’s go over them one by one.
1 Cutting the Pieces
First and foremost step is getting your piece ready. You wanna begin by cutting your fabric you want to use for these sleeves into two pieces. These two pieces together will form the outer layer of the book sleeve so, be careful and keep it uniform.
The size you are aiming for is 10.5 inches in height and 8.5 inches in width. The last thing you need to do is this is to make the front and end separately. You can easily tell outer fabric and the inner lining apart later on.
2. Applying Fusible Interfacing
Next comes the getting fusible interfacing ready.
Here you wanna start by reinforcing the outer fabric. To do that, begin by cutting two pieces of fusible interfacing. Remember you wanna make sure each extends at least half an inch beyond the fabric’s edges.
Then you need to get you iron ready. Now, the interfacing’s bumpy side should be fused to the wrong side of the outer fabric using that iron.
3. Quilting the Layers
Next comes the quilting layer. With the quilting properly done fabric, batting, and interfacing will become more as it adds padded layers in the book sleeve.
It helps in maintaining a snug fit for the books.
For quilting, you wanna begin by creating a grid pattern by sewing lines approximately one inch apart. You need to do this both vertically and horizontally.
Protip: For better results you should back and forth at the beginning and end of each line to secure the stitches.
4. Trimming Excess Material
Next comes the trimming process.
Once you are done with quilting, you wanna remove the excess fusible interfacing and batting so that they align with the fabric. But one thing you need to keep in mind here is that sometimes, it’s easy to mess up the quality of the sleeve if you give it the wrong stitch. So, be a little mindful.
5. Sewing the Inner and Outer Fabrics Together
Alright, on to securing the elastic closure.
First of all, you wanna begin by pinning it in place on the outer fabric. Then place the inner lining on top of the quilted piece. You wanna do this with their right sides facing each other. Moving on, pin along the top edge. Here you need to to ensure that the elastic loop is pinned down within the seam.
Now, it’s time to get into the actual sewing seams. You wanna begin with a 1/4-inch seam along the top edge. Then simply you repeat this process with the second quilted piece. One thing to check here though, is that it doesn’t have the elastic loop.
6. Assembling the Book Sleeve
Okay on the assembling process. If you did everything right, and have all the right pieces together, then it’ll bleed. First of all, begin by placing the two units together. Then moving forward, with fabrics facing each other.
Now, simply the outer fabric should align with the outer fabric, and the inner lining should align with the inner lining. If you didn’t end up doing this you need to go back steps.
Algith, if everything is okay, let’s start the actual assembling, first you wanna pin along all the edges properly.
Now, carefully sew a 1/4-inch seam around the entire book sleeve. Here you want to leave a 3-inch opening at the bottom of the lining. The reason you are doing this opening, cause it allows you to turn the book sleeve inside out in the following steps.
7. Turning It Inside-Out
Now, all that is left is to turn it out. Once done with the above steps, gently turn the entire piece inside out through the 3-inch opening.
Now, to close the opening, you can either sew it with a tiny seam. Otherwise you can always use a whip stitch.
8. How To Sew A Book Sleeve – Final Touches
Last but not the least, to give it a more polished look, you need to iron. Simply Iron the book sleeve to achieve a flat and polished appearance.
One thing you should keep in mind to double check is whether your corners and edges are fully pushed out.
Closing Thoughts
For both beginners and experienced sewers, a book sleeve is a versatile and enjoyable DIY project you can undertake without much effort.
Did we help you out? Do you have something to add that we miss? Let us know in the comment section below.
