Sketchy School Book Cover Embroidery Project

Read through the instructions thoroughly before beginning and assemble all the materials needed to complete the project. The project uses felt as the base fabric with an open-density fill in the designs for fast and easy stitching. A child would love to show this off to their classmates and proud to say, “I made it myself!”

The bookmark is attached to the cover so it won’t get misplaced. For this project, a standard composition book is used. Please adjust the measurements given for felt for your book.

Begin by measuring the book. This one measured 9 ¾” high by 7 ½” wide by ½” depth.

Wrap felt around the book and lightly mark the outer edges. Cut the fabric larger all the way around than needed; it will be easier to hoop and also give a little fudge room for finishing up the project.

Find and mark the center of the front cover. Hoop the felt with cutaway stabilizer, centering the mark. Load the Sketchy Schoolhouse design on the machine, rotating the design if needed.

Place the hoop on the machine. Center the needle over the center alignment mark on the felt. Stitch the design following the color sequence. Remove the finished design from the hoop and trim away the excess stabilizer.

Center the notebook over the design and mark ½” away on all edges—don’t forget to add the ½” center for the back edge.

Trim the outer edges along the marks just made. The finished dimensions should now be 16 ¾” wide by 10 ¾” high—again, adjust for your book.

Measure and cut the two pieces of felt for inside book cover pieces which will hold the book in place. Cut these a little larger, too. Everything will be trimmed evenly in the end.

Matching outer cut edges, pin the inside pieces to the inside of the book cover. Load the black sewing thread on the machine. Stitch inside the book cover edge 1/4".

Stitch all the way around through all layers. Trim the book cover inside pieces even with the outer book cover edges. Steam away the markings. Set the front cover aside until it is time to attach the bookmark.

Make the bookmark. Cut a piece of black felt to fit the hoop. Load the Sketchy Ruler design on the machine. Stitch the design following the color sequence. Remove the fabric from the hoop after the design finishes stitching and trim away the excess stabilizer.

Trim around the ruler, about ½” away on all sides; retain one large section of the felt for the back of the ruler. Cut the 12” of black grosgrain ribbon. Fold it in half and center the cut ends about ½” from the top of the ruler.

Place the remaining piece of felt behind the front and pin the pieces together. At the sewing machine, stitch around all edges about ¼” away from the edge of the ruler, encasing the ribbon at the top. Trim around the long sides and the bottom about 1/8” away from the stitching line.

Fold back the ribbon and top of the back piece and trim the top front piece about 1/8” away from the stitching line. Fold back the ribbon toward the front piece, and trim the top of the back piece the same distance.

Fold the top of the ribbon as shown and pin to the top of the book cover at the center. Stitch the ribbon in place on the book cover.

Insert the composition book into the cover and fold down the bookmark.

This project could also be used to cover children’s school books, too. Use different felt colors and some of the other designs in the Sketchy School collection.

Thank you for purchasing the designs and have fun working with a child to create this easy book cover and bookmark for them to start off the school year in style.