Quilted Bible Cover – Part 1

Over the years I’ve made a number of book/journal covers, for various reasons. Most often it was as a project for one of Wendy and my Sew We Go adventures.

Recently I’ve been concerned because the large print Bible I purchased at an estate sale was breaking down on the corners.

This is the Bible I carry back and forth with me to worship services, and I didn’t want it to fall apart. Making a cover for it was the perfect answer.

I thought you might like to know how it’s done. I began by taking measurements:

• From top edge to bottom edge plus 1” will be the length.

• With the book closed, the width of the cover from edge to edge around the spine plus 1” will be the width.

Then I cut:

• 2 rectangles of fabric at this measurement – one for the cover and one for the lining.
• 2 pieces of fabric 8” x the length measurement for the inside flaps.
• 1 piece of batting at this measurement.

I smoothed the cover fabric, wrong side against the batting and pinned through both layers.

To stitch the words on the cover I needed a pattern. I got out my Scan n Cut™ and a roll of contact paper to create a stencil.

The contact paper allowed me to stick the stencil to the cover fabric. Then I threaded the machine with gold metallic thread, and free motion stitched the words in place, stitching a second time to make them stand out.

Here’s a view from the back side:

The hand marbled fabric I’d chosen for the cover was so beautiful, I didn’t want to do too much quilting on the rest of the cover. So I marked diagonal lines with a sliver of soap and stitched them using feed dogs and a matching thread.

I was pleased with the quilting and jumped right into putting it all together.

Covered Bibles, books or journals make great gifts. Would you like to have the instructions for making the actual cover?

Stay tuned for next week’s post ?!