Come Along for the Ride.....

Not too long ago, someone made a comment that I didn't seem to plan anything when I started a new project. Boy! Were they ever wrong!

I spend more time planning than working. Most of the time, over half of the plans go out the window, but at least I have them down on paper and sometimes they work out for some other project later.

I have decided to take you along for the ride, so to speak.

This morning, I got up and started looking for a notebook to put the plans and ideas for Tessie's Townhouse in. I found the perfect one.

It wasn't always perfect, but I covered this one with the idea of using it for this exact purpose. It was a small, plain, three ring binder that I think that I found at a garage sale for 50 cents.

I found the fabric at my favorite, out in the middle of nowhere, quilt shop. Combining the two was a natural for a dollhouse notebook. And look! It even has a townhouse on the front. Unplanned.....

When I dragged it out this morning Tessie was delighted and excited. She is anxious to get going on this project. I haven't seen her bounce up and down so much since the time that she thought that a pogo stick would help her navigate the keyboard of the computer.


She suggested that I show you how I did it so that you can do one for your next project. Soooo....
I will start with the notebook itself.

Here you see the inside. Tessie tucked her toes into one of the pockets that I made. I did that both in the front and the back. That way I can carry a ruler, fabric samples and other things when I take it with me to shop or plan.

There is also a loop to keep a pencil handy.

Mookie had to get into the act. He held down the page with the diagram on it whilst I took the photos.

The whole thing didn't really take very long.

I am not going to give you exact measurements, because your notebook will probably be a different size than mine. I will just tell you the details.

I laid the fabric out flat, wrong side up and then the open notebook on top of that. I cut the fabric about an inch larger all around and snipped the corners and the spine area so that the fabric would fit around.

I covered the outside of the notebook with white glue and smoothed the fabric on it. I made sure that the fabric was glued into the fold lines beside the spine. Then I flipped it over and glued the edges inside. If there were any overlaps, I cut them away, making sure that the area was covered.

I let the fabric dry. Then I started on the inside.

If you want a fabric or ribbon loop for the pencil you have to glue that to the side edge about half way up. I prefer the right side. That's just a personal quirk.

For the actual liner you need to cut two pieces about 1/4" smaller on all sides than the cover. The liner is poster board. It is treated the same way as the cover. Fabric is glued to one side and wrapped around to the back.

If you want pockets, measure and cut card stock to the size you want. I wanted them as wide as the liner so I simply cut it the same width as the liner. I turned the top edge to the inside and glued. I laid the pocket on top of the liner and then wrapped the sides and bottom fabric to the back. Not too tight.

The last step was to glue the liner to the inside of each cover. As you can see, I used two contrasting fabrics. You can get as fancy or stay as simple as you choose.

Now I have to go get ready to go to the Wednesday Witches mini meeting. Hopefully, Tessie will be so engrossed in the notebook that she won't notice when I leave. Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.