I received a sewing machine for Christmas last year. It’s a fancy Husqvarna Eden Rose with the ability to do a lot of neat things like letters and various embroidered designs. I wanted to learn experiment with all of these awesome features without just wasting fabric & thread. Miss O was starting to learn her colours and is obsessed with books so I had the idea to combine all of these things into a fabric book all about colours for her!
This post is not meant to be a tutorial but simply a jumping off point for you to be inspired to make one for your little ones. It was simple to do albeit time-consuming. This is a great project for beginners as there are no rigid patterns to follow; simply make it how YOU want to make it! This is a very image-heavy post showing you all of the pages. I will include a few details to help get you started on this project.
Items Used
- Off-white fabric – this allows you to include a page for the colour white
- A variety of fabrics in all the colours of the rainbow; this is a great use of scrap pieces
- Ribbon to make “tags” for little one to play with
- Buttons to add more texture and variety
- Thread; I bought thread in every colour but you could just as easily sew it all with white or black thread
- Cotton batting sheets; this is to make the pages puffy. You could also use fusible lining to make the pages a bit stiffer
- Pinking shears; don’t waste your time finishing the edges of all the fabric.
Tips & Tricks
- I used a long piece of fabric designed to be folded in half so I could easily sew down the centre of the book once it was complete.
- Pay attention when laying out your pages! The red page will not be right next to the yellow page in the beginning stages. This is also important when sewing the pages together while inside-out.
- Take the time to design your pages beforehand, pinning things to the page as you go.
- Leave room around the edges to allow for seam allowance as you will sew the pages inside-out then flip them.
- Once I flipped the pages right-side-out, I sewed around the edges again to make them sharper and also to close the hole where I flipped them.
- Don’t forget to include your stuffing when sewing the pages together!
- Once the book is complete and you are sewing the centre, make sure to reinforce it with a large zigzag stitch.
- Most importantly: Have fun with it! And remember that your kids will never notice what you perceive to be imperfections.
- More questions? Ask them in the comments below or shoot me an email at andrea [at] theinspiredhome [dot] org
Vibrant front cover of fabric color book.
Red & orange pages of fabric color book including cherry & orange embroidery and ladybug & pumpkin buttons.
Yellow and green pages of fabric color book. “Yellow” was sews onto a small piece of black fabric to make it easier to see.
The blue & purple pages of the fabric color book. The ribbon adds great texture to the pages!
Fabric colour book pink & brown pages including a pink pig and a brown dog & cat!
Black & white fabric color book pages. Similar to the yellow page, a piece of black fabric was used to make the word “white” visible on the page.
Back cover of fabric color book. I simply sewed on a piece of rainbow chevron fabric that I had in my stash.
Andrea can always be found with a new craft in front of her, a form of technology on her right and a coffee on her left. This is how she survives suburbia with her two crazy toddlers in tow.
Looks easy as this will be my first ‘book’ to sew! Do you have simple instructions (as for this project) for a ‘family keepsake book’ for baby – showing relatives, family tree, etc? Please forward to me if you do – or any suggestions you might have with this ‘next’ project!
Thanks again for sharing these instructions!
Hi Pat – I think you’ll have a lot of fun making this book. It’s a great way to learn all the neat things your sewing machine can do without worrying about “perfection”. As for the family keepsake book, a neat idea is to use vinyl. You can tuck a picture into the vinyl then sew around all of the edges. This allows baby to see the photos without ruining them! One tip when sewing on vinyl – put a piece of white tissue paper over the vinyl – this keeps the foot on the machine from sticking to it. Once you’re done, you can tear off the tissue. Good luck!
I just found this on Pinterest – love this! What is the finished size?