I made a letter holder using a discarded book cover. I’ve done this as a craft class before, using felt. If you use felt, you only need one layer. Using cloth, you will need to finish the edges, and the easiest way to do that is to make two layers.
- book cover
- cloth
- ribbon or string
- glue gun or super tacky glue
Start by preparing your book. If the book is falling apart already, it might seem easy to take out the pages, but it is best to use a craft knife to cut along the inside of the spine in the front and back of the book. Keep those pages for other projects!
Measure the length and height of the book cover laid flat. Add a half inch for seam allowance and cut out two rectangles of cloth. For the sides, measure the width of the spine. I kept it simple with a basic rectangle, but you could decide to make the opening bigger by tapering out the top. Sew the side pieces (right sides together and then turn right side out). Pin your loops to the short side of the main piece (putting inside the “sandwich” so it is sewn into the seam) and sew the right sides together for the main piece, flipping it right side out and finishing off the opening edge, tucking in the raw edge. Sew the sides to the main piece.
I have a fear of glue guns, having gotten a nasty burn, but I decided to brave the low-temp glue gun. Unlike the hot glue gun, the glue loses its sticky power almost immediately. So the technique is to smooth the cloth into place as you are applying. I think I might go back to super tacky glue next time.
You’re done! You can put your letter holder on the wall or pin it to a cork board. It’s a good size for outgoing mail or envelopes.
[…] friend asked me to try a new project after seeing my post on making a letter holder out of a book. She shared images of “book nooks” which are miniature scenes tucked into […]