Cloth Books

Right now I am working on sewing together some little cloth books for my twin grand babies. :)

My daughter and I found panels for cloth books at the Sewing Room in Calgary. They have quite a good selection.  We chose a Beatrix Potter panel called the Three Little Kittens,  a panel to make a cloth counting book called The Tiny Tailor, as well as a third one, Alphabet Soup, with very bright colorful animals on them.

Alphabet Soup panel for cloth book

Cloth books are quite simple to make, just follow the easy directions printed on each panel, (and skip the part about adding optional piping around the front and back cover! I went through that headache with my first attempt at a cloth book, the Winnie the Pooh one. It was hard to sew the piping so that it lined up properly on both sides.)  

The three parts of the cloth book

Just cut the page sets out together and make sure each page is numbered properly so you don't sew the wrong ones together. (Yikes!) 

Place the front cover/back cover piece on top of the page 1/page 10 piece, right sides together.  Cut a piece of  batting (I used leftover batting) the same size as the pages. Place the batting on either back side, then sew a 1/4 inch seam around the outside of all three, leaving a 4 inch opening so that you an turn the pages/ batting right side out.  Then press it and slip stitch the opening shut.  

Do the same for the other pages.  Place batting on the wrong side of the page2/page9 piece and place it right sides together on top of the page3/page8 piece. Sew around the edges, turn right side out, etc. 

Do the same with the last 2 pieces (page 4/7 piece, on top of the page 5/6 piece.)  You will have 3 separate parts when you are done.  

Now put the 3 parts on top of each other in the right order so that page 1/10 is face up, with page 3/8 on top of it, and then page 5/6 on the very top. If you fold it in half now, you will see the book the way it will look after you have fasten it together. (Flip the pages and make sure the story pages are in the right order. ) Now just sew right down the centre of all 3 pieces altogether and your book is done! 

How cute is that!?!