Everytime my mother-in-law goes somewhere on vacation, she has this almost primal need to buy my husband and myself t-shirts emblazoned with the place she has just returned from. Now while it's very endearing of her to think of us, and I do graciously accept it, I never, ever wear them. However, I do tuck it away so that I might give those shirts a second life someday.
And so here's a nifty little project for you to try out, when you don't want to go out, when it's cold out. It's a take on the paper book cover that we were forced as kids to cover all our books with.
The T-Shirt Book Cover
You'll need:
t-shirt (preferably one with an interesting pattern, you can also try concert T's!)
book (that you want to cover)
good pair of scissors
tailor's chalk/pencil
tape measure
straight pins
needle and thread, (preferably a sewing machine)
How to:
1. Place your t-shirt on a flat surface and your book (open) on to the area you would like to use for your cover.
The T-Shirt Book Cover
You'll need:
t-shirt (preferably one with an interesting pattern, you can also try concert T's!)
book (that you want to cover)
good pair of scissors
tailor's chalk/pencil
tape measure
straight pins
needle and thread, (preferably a sewing machine)
How to:
1. Place your t-shirt on a flat surface and your book (open) on to the area you would like to use for your cover.
2. Measure the book and cut the t-shirt around the book while giving an allowance of 3" on the sides, and 1.5" on the top and bottom of the book, like so:
3. Fold the top and bottom excess edging parts in to create a sturdy and clean edge for your book cover and pin down like so:
4. Sew the edges down:
5. Fold and sew down the sides of the cover being very careful to get as close to the edge as possible (1/8"), this is where you create the "pocket" for the front and back covers of the book.
7. Show off your fancy new book cover.....maybe even to the mother-in-law who gave you that tourist t-shirt, lest it inspire her to give you more t-shirts!!!! Enjoy!!!
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15 comments:
Ingenious! It looks so good; I wish I had known how to do it when I was in high school, but I can try it for my kids' books! Thanks:=)
Fantastic post! I have purchased so many book sox for my kids. But, no more! Now we will make them out of cool tees! Thanks!
Nice tutorial! Thanks for sharing!a
Excellent, more ways to upcycle my old t-shirts. Thanks!
this looks like a great project....thanks!
Very cool, I like the background story of the t-shirts!
Oh that is fantastic, I love it! Thanks so much for the idea, I'll be linking.
Nice idea! With a loose-leaf binder this would make a great photo album.
awesome idea and tutorial. very simple :)
thanks for sharing!
really a work of genious
I'm going to work on it...I'll see if I can come up with something... This is really fun.
The T-shirt is just a winner. It always looks so easy the way you show it off. Good job.
Excellent, more ways to upcycle my old t-shirts. Thanks!
Funny Shirts
This is just brilliant for me to make for my daughter. She loves her books and if something happens to them she would sit down and cry. I am definitely making one for her, although I don't think I can get away with presenting it as a birthday gift. She would want something a bit more material than that.
I wanted to let you know that I featured your book cover on my 10 Ways to Showcase Special T-Shirts post at http://thedomesticatedprincess.blogspot.com/2012/11/from-t-shirt-to-treasure-part-3.html.
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