Fancy making a pouch to keep your books safe inside that is so quick and easy that you don’t even need a pattern for it?! Well, let me show you how!
I love making these little book sleeves. They’re perfect for stopping the pages of a journal getting crumpled inside a busy drawer, or for keeping a novel handy for the bus at the bottom of a bag, or even for making gifting books even more fun and personalised.
They make for a perfect beginner project as the only sewing is all in straight lines, or if you’re experienced, then they are a super quick and easy sewing win!
What You’ll Need
- A bit of cotton fabric (4 pieces 28cm x 18cm / 11 x 7″)
- A hair elastic for a loop
- A chunky button
- Your usual sewing kit – sewing machine, cotton thread, scissors, clips, iron.
I hope you’ll enjoy sewing along with me, either in this video tutorial or skip on past for the step by step instructions.
Cutting the Pieces
I start by cutting four cotton rectangles, each 28 cm tall by 18 cm wide—that’s about 11 by 7 inches. Two are for the outer layer, two for the lining inside. I’ve used the same fabric for both, but feel free to make yours in pairs on contrasting or complementary fabrics. Or you could even do some scrapbusting and patchwork a few fabrics together. Don’t you think this would look so fun with some crazy quilting fabric piecing?! If you have a rotary cutter and board, then this is really easy to just cut straight onto the fabric, but if you’re using scissors, you might want to either mark your fabric or make yourself a paper pattern template to cut around.
Then, I make a little square template, 3 cm by 3 cm (roughly an inch and a quarter on all sides), and cut that out from all of the bottom corners—two per rectangle. These will be used to shape the bottom of the pouch to make enough space for chunky novels. If you only want to keep slimmer journals or notebooks inside, you might find it looks neater with a smaller corner, so I’d use 1 to 2 cm squares instead. Or you could scale the whole thing up or down for different-sized books.
If you’re making your own custom-sized version of this book cover, you’ll need the height from the inside corner of the cut-out square to the top of the fabric to be a touch over the height of your book plus a seam allowance. You’ll need the pouch width to be a little over the book width from inner corner to inner corner of the little cut-out squares.
How To Sew The Book Pouch
Making The Pouch Shapes
Before stitching anything together, if you want to accessorise and customise your pouch fabric to make it burst with personality and fun, now would be the perfect time to do it. Maybe you could add some ribbon, lace, cording, decorative stitching, a funky appliqué, an embroidery or maybe even a little patch pocket for a pen or mini treasures.
I do exactly the same for sewing the lining layer as I do for the outer layer, so it doesn’t matter which pair you start with as long as it’s either the 2 pieces of lining fabric or 2 pieces of outer fabric. I take the 2 rectangles and place them right sides together, so the pretty patterns face each other. I sew a straight stitch to make a seam down one of the long sides, skip the cut-out square area, carry on across the bottom of the pouch, skip the other square, then I sew back up the other long side, leaving the top open. A quick backstitch at the start and end of each section keeps those stitches securely in place.
To make it more durable, I whizz around those sewn edges after with a quick zigzag stitch just inside the seam allowance. It’s not necessary if it’s only going to be used occasionally, gently, but I’m planning on giving this book sleeve plenty of use, knocking around a bag. The zigzag stitch holds the cotton fabric weave in place on the edges, stopping the fabric from fraying. You could use an overcast foot or an overlocker (aka serger) to stitch over the edge of the fabric, or just trim the fabric edge with pinking shears for a quicker fix.
Shaping the Corners
Now it’s time to use those squares! I pull the fabric apart at the inner corner on one of the cut-out squares, pinching it and pulling it apart so it’s in the opposite direction from where it sits flat. This brings that square magically into a straight seam. This is called a box corner. To make a neater finish, I like to make sure that I match the direction of the bottom seam when I make up the second corner on the pouch. Otherwise, the twisted seam pulls things a bit more out of place and won’t lie as flat. Then I just stitch straight across those corners to secure them in place. I tend to chain stitch all the corners together, snipping threads as I go between them. Then I follow that on again with a zigzag to stop any fraying.
Joining the Inner & Outer Pieces
So at this point, you should have 2 pouch-shaped pieces. Now’s the time to join them together. I turn the outer layer right side out so the pretty side is now on the outside of the pouch. The lining layer stays inside out with the pattern facing the middle. I slip the outer part inside the lining, so the pretty sides face each other. I find it easiest to line up the side seams first, then the rest of the pouch pulls into alignment more easily. Then I just clip the sides and front in place.
For the back, I add part of the closure. I’m using an elastic and button style of closing, so I find the middle of the back as my point to add it. You can use regular elastic, but I like to use a little hair elastic for these. They’re pretty, colourful and ooh so simple to add. However, they’ve got a weak spot where they’re joined. So look for the little bump in it where the ends of the band meet. I like to leave that sticking out at the top. This way, when it’s all finished, it’ll be hidden inside the book sleeve and won’t have any pull or strain on that weak point. This will help keep the elastic pingy perfect for much longer
I sew a straight stitch around the top to join the layers, adding extra backstitches over the elastic to hold it firm. I like to leave about 1cm or half an inch between the 2 sides of the elastic loop, with about 2/3 of the loop inside the pouch. When I get back around towards where I started, I stop about 5 cm (a couple of inches) short of a full circle. This leaves a turning gap. If you added extra bulk to your cover, keep in mind that it might need a slightly bigger turning hole, so it might be less obvious where you’re joining your hole if you leave it in the bottom of your lining piece in the first step instead, then hand sew it closed after this step. If your machine has a free arm, popping off the front lets you slide the pouch round like a sleeve.
Turning The Book Cover
Now it’s time to turn it all the right way out. I like to use long nose pliers to grab the lining’s far side from the inside, then pull it out of the hole, easing it through gently. A little gentle wiggle and jiggle and it should all pop out and look like this. It’s tempting to give it a hard pull, but a gentle easing out means you won’t stretch the hole, so it’ll look neater when you’re done. It looks odd at first, like two pouches stuck together, but poke the lining inside the outer layer, and it’ll look a happy little pouch shape in no time. You might just need to wiggle the corners a bit more to make them look sharp and crisp.
I fold the gap’s raw edges inward to match the seam. If I press it flat with an iron all the way around the top, making sure the seam it right at the top edge, it’ll hold it all in a perfect position. Then I just topstitch around the top. I trim the starting thread before I get all the way around, then I can avoid any accidental tangles when I get back to the start. This topstitch is just another straight stitch all the way around the top of the book pouch, keeping the stitching just a bit closer to the edge than when sewing a seam. This seals up the gap and stops the inner and outer fabric from moving around, so you get a lovely, neat finish.
Adding the Button
Last touch: the button! I pull the elastic loop over to the front of the book sleeve to find where that elastic naturally sits without any stretch. That should be the perfect spot for the button. If the elastic’s too loose, it won’t hold over the button and can slide off easily, but too tight and it can be tricky to undo. So if I go with the point where the band is comfortably sitting, then once the book goes inside, it’ll have a slight stretch over the top with the width of the book pulling on it.
I like to use a nice big decorative button. This pretty flower shank-backed button not only adds a ton of extra charm, but that clearly defined area at the back and the big chunky size helps to keep the elastic securely behind the button, so it’ll withstand plenty of pulling around without being tempted to ping open. I like to double up on my thread as I hand-sew these buttons, then I can add twice the strength in every stitch, which makes it much faster to sew. Once I’m happy it’s secure, I like to loop my thread around the button and knot it 2 or 3 times. This wrap those threads up so the band is moving over the wrapped threads rather than on the individual strands. Again, it just adds a bit more durability with this extra little step.
If you wanted a slightly different look, a toggle would be a fun alternative to swap in here.
Ready to Use!
And there you go, this book pouch is now ready to keep a chunky adventure book safe for a bus ride, or help keep a notebook handy for whenever sewing inspiration strikes next! I love how quick it is to make, and if you have a go at making one, I’d love to see how you make yours.
