Personalised Baby Book
These are sometimes called Quiet Books, but whatever you call it, here are the instructions that will enable you to make a little book for the baby or toddler in your life.
The first one I made totally in felt, however this was very thick and so I decided to make the 'pages' in fabric and then used felt for the scenery and animals.
Step 1 in this project is probably the hardest - write a story. Sounds easy, but it was the hardest for me. In my first book I called it 'What do I eat' and did felt animals and different foods which had to be matched up.
The book I am showing you here is called 'Where do I live?' Which as various habitats and the animals need to be put in their home.
Step 2
Cut out the pages. You will need one piece for the front and back cover, one piece of fabric each for page 1 and page 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4. I cut mine 8 inches by 16 inches.
I chose fabric with the same small print but in different colours, blue, green and pink.
Step 3
Cut out your shapes and the background. I did a fish with fins tail and of course the piece of velcro on the back of the fish. (I put the rough piece on the animals and the soft piece of velcro on the pages to stop the pages sticking together.)
before you stuff and sew together the animals make sure you have added all you want to add. ie the fins, the eyes and any adornments.
The fish lives in the sea so I cut a sort of sea shape.
I only use machine sewing, so, as I have a blanket stitch on my machine and it makes it look hand stitched! Do whatever is good for you.
When you have cut out and sewn up all your animals you then need to think of your page layout.
Step 4 You need to fold the page in half, and crease it so that you can see where each page will be. There should also be about half an inch around the outside of each picture.
Step 5 sew down the background DON'T FORGET TO TO SEW ON THE VELCRO WHERE YOU WANT THE ANIMAL TO SIT!
On my first book I also added animal noises in felt letters 'moo' 'baaah' etc.
Step 6
Lay out your pages and make sure everything is added
before you sew the pages together.
this book is pretty simple as it is for a very young child, make yours as personal as you want. You know the child you are making it for so make the story just for them.
In this story all the animals can be removed (velcro) and stored in the back page, the child will be able to take out the animals and tell you where each one belongs. ie sheep with field, dog in kennel, cat in basket, bird in tree, fish in the sea and a mouse in a mouse hole. Use your imagination and create something for the child in your life.
Step 7 The back page of the book is a
'Zippered Pocket' which will hold the
animals. I made a diagonal zippered pocket. The pocket is lined and will hold all the animals.
Step 8 The front page is made up of felt letters giving the title of the book and the child's name.
Step 9 The pages need to be joined together in pairs, (front and back page to pages 1 and 6 - pages 2 and 5 to pages 3 and 4) They also need to have wadding inserted.
Layer the pieces as shown, Pages, right sides
together and the wadding on top. Then sew all around the pages leaving a gap of about 4 inches at the top for turning.
Before you turn, remove about half an inch of wadding from the centre of the pages. this will make joining the book much easier later on.
Turn the fabric right sides out. Push out the corners so that the pages are neat.
Sew around the page with a 1/4 inch seam allowance closing up the gap that you used for turning.
For the front/back page and pages 1 and 6 you will only add wadding to the front cover side as the pocket side is thick enough (especially when the animals are in there.)
Step 10 Once all the pages are sewn up then join them together. As you have removed the centre piece of wadding in each page you will only be sewing through fabric and not 4 layers of wadding too.
There you have it. Your own personalised story made into a book for your son, daughter, grandchild, niece or nephew to love forever.
Please show me your completed books. I would love to see your stories.
Have fun.x