Handmade notebook

So I made my first notebook ever. For my friend Ana (and she taught me how to actually do it). I hope she will write and draw tons of stuff on it and that by Christmas, the whole notebook will be completed. For what is a notebook without the notes and doodles inside it, to call your own?
And a little update: you can find many more handmade notebooks on our Etsy shop L'ateliera!

To make this present, I used colored paper (mint for the notebook body and turquoise for the inside covers - Ana's favorite colors) and an old skirt with a lovely dotted - psychedelic pattern. A touch of happy yellow never hurt anybody, but don't stare too long at the fine lines or you will get a mighty headache!

Quick tutorial:

1. You will need: a piece of fabric in a playful pattern, hard cardboard, colored lightweight paper, liner, cutter, scissors, glue, waxy string, a needle and an awl for piercing everything.

2. Cut the strips of paper twice as big as the final size you want for your finished notebook. Fold every paper in half along the sewing line (where the stitches will be) and make 7 sheet sets.

3. Pierce every set  of paper, using a guiding template (to make sure the wholes are even on each set of paper).

4. Cut the covers and carefully glue the fabric on the outside. Tuck the corners in.

5. Glue the inside cover over the fabric corners and pierce the covers, using the same template.

6. Sew every set of paper - this is impossible to explain properly, but there are plenty of web tutorials out there. To be honest, it was Ana who taught me how to make the stitches... because handmade notebooks are her hobby!

Hip Hip Hooray! I've just been featured at Clean & Scentsible, Social Salutations, JAQS Studio, Simple Home Life, Homework, Alderberry Hill, It's So Very Cheri, Cherished Bliss, Get Outta My Head Please,  Cabin Fevered Gem, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia and Petite Hermine and also got pinned on Romance On A Dime. Thank you so much for the feature, it gives me the power for more projects :)