fabric bookmarks {a tutorial}

I love books. Regular, old fashioned, paper books. I love the way they feel, and smell, I love turning the pages and getting lost in a good story. I also love craft books, and cookbooks, and of course any sewing/ quilting books as well. Which means I usually read quite a few books at a time but somehow I never have any proper bookmarks on hand.

Here are some of the things I used as bookmarks over the last few weeks - tissues (at least they were clean), coasters, old candy wrappers (yeah, I can get very classy), envelopes, and I even started using a BOOK as a bookmark for another book :). At least no one can accuse me of not being innovative, right?

The other day though I finally decided to make myself fabric bookmarks. I looked on Pinterest but could not find a tutorial I really liked so I designed my own super simple scrappy bookmarks.

I love the way they turned out. No more miscellaneous items from around the house for me as bookmarks, at least for a while :).

Now, in case you'd like to make a bookmark (or ten) of your own, here's a quick tutorial for you.

♥♥♥

Each bookmark finished at about 2.5" x 8.5" (or 9.5" if counting the leather tag).

*use 1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise noted*

To make one bookmark, you will need: one 3" x 9" strip of patchwork for the front of bookmark

                                                                one 3" x 9" strip of fabric for the back of bookmark

                                                                one 3" x 9" strip of fusible fleece

                                                                one 3" x 9" strip of fusible interfacing (anything you have on 

                                                                                hand will do fine)

                                                                one 1" x 1.25" piece of leather or one 1" x 2.5" ribbon, folded

                                                                                in half

Step 1: following manufacturer's directions attach fusible fleece to the wrong side of bookmark front, and fusible interfacing to the wrong side of bookmark back. Use 1/8" seam allowance to sew the leather tab or ribbon to the top of the bookmark front (as shown in the picture).

Step 2: place bookmark front and bottom right sides together, pin to hold in place.

Step 3: stitch all the way around the bookmark, backstitching at the beginning and end, making sure to leave about 2" opening in one of the sides. Trim the corners and press the seams open.

Step 4: turn the bookmark right side out through the opening from the previous step, push out all the corners and make sure your bookmark looks nice and even on all sides, press. Pin the opening closed and topstitch all the way around the bookmark using 1/8" seam allowance.

Congratulations, your bookmark is now finished. Super easy, wasn't it?

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

And, as always, if you make a project using any of my tutorials please add it to my Flickr group. I always enjoy seeing all your amazing creations.

 

Talk to you soon. Svetlana