Tutorial: Spiral bound notebook cover

Finally, here's the tutorial for the notebook cover. This is a great way to use scraps and is a fairly quick project. One caveat: if you open the notebook with the front cover flipped to the back, the fabric cover will fold back on itself and not lay perfectly flat. However, I find that it doesn't hinder my sermon note-taking. (Click pics for larger view.)

Materials:
Cover: Twelve 5-inch cotton print squares
Lining: 18-1/4 x 11-3/4 of cotton & 18-1/4 x 11-3/4 of flannel or batting
Inner flaps: Two 11-3/4 x 4-1/2 of cotton
Thread, pins, scissors, ruler, etc.
Iron
One button

1.  Lay out your 5-inch squares in a pleasing pattern, 3 squares in 4 columns.  (You can be as creative as you want with piecing the patchwork cover. I used pre-cut charm squares to save time.)

2. Stitch the 3 squares in each column together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Press flat.

3. Take your first column and trim the length at the bottom to 11-3/4 inches to match the lining fabric. This will give you roughly two and a half squares per column

4. Take the second column and trim the top to match the lining. This is to offset the squares so they look more interesting IMO.

5. Repeat by trimming the bottom of the 3rd column and the top of the 4th column.

6. Stitch the columns together lengthwise using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Press flat

7. Finish the edge of the inner flaps by turning under the long edge on one side by 1/4 inch. Press. Turn under again and press. Top stitch to finish the edge. Do this for both flaps.

8. To make the closure tab, take two scraps from trimming the patchwork squares. Place right sides together and stitch around 3 sides (long, short, long). Leave one short end open to turn right side out.  Clip corners and turn right side out. Press. Top stitch around tab if desired.

9. Make a button hole at the end of the tab. My buttonholer is behaving badly, so I made my buttonhole by hand. You can also use velcro or snaps, with a button for decoration on the outside of the tab.

10. Lay the patchwork cover on top of the flannel. (Due to the size of the pre-cut charm squares, the patchwork will be 1/4 inch short on each side.  Don't worry because we'll use a 1/2 inch seam allowance to stitch the cover together.) Stitch the tab to the back of the cover, placing the bottom of the tab roughly 5-1/2 inches from the bottom and 1-1/2 inches from the side. Tuck the raw edge of the tab under 1/4 inch and then top stitch to the back of the notebook.

11. Sew the cover together by layering flannel/patchwork (right side facing up), flaps on each side (right side facing down), and lining (right side facing down). Make sure the closure tab is flipped back towards the center so it won't be caught in the seam. Also make sure the finished edge of the flaps are facing towards the center. Using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, stitch the layers together leaving an opening to turn the cover right side out. Clip corners. You can trim the flannel close to the seam so it will lay flat more easily. Turn right side out and press, tucking in the raw edges of the opening.

12. Slip stitch the opening closed by hand.

13. Slip the cover on a 70 page spiral bound notebook. Bring the tab to the front to determine the position of the button. Sew button keeping the inner flap out of the way.

14. You're done! Enjoy!