a stitched book cover
2010
Moving into the teen years, I do find that coming up with a handmade present gets a bit trickier. Especially if you have left it to the last moment :-) Abby’s school friend Neve, turned 13 on the weekend and hosted a sleepover and we wanted something handmade but something that also reflected Neve’s interests. She loves to read – a girl after my own heart, who reads and re-reads the likes of Anne of Green Gables, Little Women and Pride and Prejudice – what a sweetie! So we straight away thought of a lovely novel and Abby came up with the wonderful idea of a felt book cover. See, most of Neve’s reading material comes from the library so Abby liked the idea of Neve being able to add a bit of her own flavour to each of the library books whilst they were in her care.
Abby drew the design, traced and cut out the pattern pieces, then the felt pieces and I stitched them in place – hand stitching for the applique and a combination of machine and hand stitching for the flaps.
I used a stitch for the edging that I often find binding the rolled edges of the vintage woollen blankets I thrift, and after a few false starts, I found a direction and rhythm that flew along nicely and looked sweet. The contrasting straight line I added with a backstitch.
Abby’s been learning embroidery in her art class at school – the girls started with a sampler of stitches and are now working on an applique and embroidery of a bird of their choice. Abby’s – a Puffin which is currently having it’s black bits textured with seed stitch. And she was full of suggestions for what stitches I could use where – without wanting to do them herself. So we have the chain stitch flower stem which I must say, I love and will always use in the future :-)
We finished with a quick embroidering of Neve’s name on the inside flap. The book was slid in and voila! A lovely personalised half handmade present. She loved it. We do too – and Abby’s currently working on some more designs for more covers. We’re compiling a garden diary/scrapbook – where we draw in the garden we worked on that day, adding pictures of the plants, what sort they are, how and where we planted them, what kind of sun they get, whether they were seeds or seedlings, what organic matter we added etc. Hopefully, this will not only be lovely to look back on but will be a good resource for our family in establishing what works well and what doesn’t. I’ll hopefully have it ready for a looksie by the end of the week. For now, I’d better dash. The bookstore awaits!
p.s. we chose a nice thick book – well you know, it’s not War and Peace, but certainly thicker than the average read, and we made the cover with room to spare, without falling off. Hopefully this means it will be very versatile!
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What a fabulous personal gift!
What an adorable cover you made together….I love it so much!
Lucky, lucky friend, Neve is…
?
I love this idea. The older they get, the harder they get for sure. I’ve given up making gifts for my son’s friends, tweeny boys are impossible!
Hi,
I love the book cover.
I also wanted to let you know that I’m glad you’re back! I was getting worried. I enjoy reading your blog.
mc
Adorable! I hope that is an acceptable adjective for 13. I shall follow your lead as we plan for gifts this year — it does get harder. The stitching is wonderful, the colors are fun and who doesn’t LOVE a new book?!
What a sweet and thoughtful present for a young reader. I’m sure she must be beyond thrilled to add a personal touch to her library copies. It’s great to hear that Abby is having fun with her stitchy adventures at school. I love your idea of garden scrapbook :)
What a beautiful idea! Looks like Abby is easily following in your footsteps in the creativity department. I love the colors and the idea itself is very thoughtful.
I love the team effort, and I am as always in awe of your handwork!
Lily and Abby this is beautiful! When the two of you work with felt and simple stitches you create magic. In other words I love this little book cover!
What always amazes me about you is your vast talent. No matter what you take your hand to, it comes out so perfectly. You are very talented but also very precise. Which I admire.