Simple Homemade Gifts: Fabric Book Cover

For Calvin’s birthday this year, he specifically requested that I not buy him any gifts. (As a family, we have already been committed over the years to “giving handmade” as much as possible, but in our season of unemployment, he wanted to be especially “budget conscious.”)

After I confirmed that he would approve of me creating a gift from what I had on hand (and had planned to make anyway!), I got to work making him fabric book covers for his Bible and journal/notebook.

His Bible has been well-worn (from his use, as well as mauled by a baby!). When Enoch has had fussy nights, Calvin has regularly cuddled with him on the couch at night while reading his Bible, and given me a chance to rest. (But Enoch loved grabbing those pages!)

(Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of the matching journal cover; he took it with him to a meeting.)

A fabric book cover is also wonderful for protecting school books, and an alternative to the paper bag book covers I used to make in high school. (Although the paper covers were more fun for doodling on.)

I based my book covers on the tutorial from Craftzine’s Simple Fabric Book Cover. Although, I did hem the inside edges first, in mine. (Theirs appears to just have a raw edge on the inside of the book flap.)

Since then, I have admired a couple more fabric book cover tutorials:

• Natalie Jost’s Book Cover Tutorial (as gifts for her Bible study group!)
• Craft Apple’s Patchwork Notebook Cover Tutorial
• Sew Mama Sew’s Back-To-School Fabric Book Covers (love the “boy” fabrics!)

Finding homemade “guy gift” ideas can be a challenge sometimes, but my husband loved this one!