Fellow word nerds, this project is for you! I’m over the moon with how well these book clutches came out. They have so many uses too! You won’t see me without my Pride and Prejudice clutch anytime soon.
One of the hardest part of this tutorial is sewing the zipper. But this is a good introduction to sewing one since you aren’t sewing it into anything just making an edge around it.
This project was inspired by this tutorial by See Kate Sew.
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How to make a book clutch with an old book
Time: 1-2 hours (with drying time)
Difficulty: Medium
Materials
For one book clutch
- Thrifted hardcover book with a spine of about 1 inch or greater
- 1/4 yard or a fat quarter of fabric (similar yellow bundle* or similar green*) to match the book
- Heat n Bond sheet*
- You want enough to cover the outside and inside of the book. For one book you probably only need 1/4 of a yard but it’s only $3 for an entire yard.
- E6000 industrial glue*
- 20 inch metal zipper*
- Old paintbrush (optional)
- Will have to be discarded after use because the glue won’t wash out.
- Scrap ribbon (optional)
I bought 1/4 yard of 3 different fabrics that matched the books I wanted to upcycle into clutches. Or dive into your cabbage of fabric and see what you have. You may recognize the yellow flower fabric from my DIY Beeswax Wraps!
Equipment
- X-acto knife
- Iron
- Sewing machine and thread
- Scissors
- Binder clips
- Tape ribbon*
Directions
- Start by gutting the book with an X-acto knife.
Before you yell at me for cutting up a Pride and Prejudice book, just know that the dust jacket was a movie cover *gasp*.
- Cut out two rectangles of fabric about 1.5″ larger on 3 sides than the dimensions of the book. I cut mine at 7″ x 9″ for this standard hardcover.
- Iron on a strip of heat and bond on the edge of the fabric. Draw a straight line with a ruler and cut to make a clean edge and to keep the fabric from fraying. Peel the paper off and stick to the cover of the book 3/4 inch from the spine to give it that “book look.” You can use an entire Heat n Bond sheet to stick your fabric onto the front.
- Using some E6000 glue, paste the fabric onto the cover and wrap the edges of the fabric around the cover.
E6000 is a strong, toxic (very toxic!) glue. Use it outside or in a well ventilated area. Make sure no pets or small kids are around. Where a mask or bandana around your mouth and nose while gluing. If you need a simple mask tutorial, check out mine here.
- Make sure the fabric is tightly wrapped and pasted to the inside. Make a clean corner by folding some of the edge over into a 45 degree angle. Let the glue dry while you start the next step: the zipper.
Sew the Zipper
- Cut 4 pieces of fabric. Cut (2) 3″ x 2″ for the top of the zipper and then cut (2) 24″ x 2″ strips.
- Start by pinning your small rectangle to the top edge of you zipper. I put 2 pins to indicate the middle where I should sew.
- Measure the circumference around the open 3 edges of your book. Mine was a little less than 20″, around 18.5″.
- Pin the second small rectangle of fabric and mark and sew across.
- Place the long strip of fabric along one edge of your zipper with the right side facing the right side (front) of the zipper. Sew very carefully next to the zipper. (With a zipper foot if you have one. I couldn’t find mine for months! But never fear, I have located it now.)
- Repeat on the side. Now you should have a rectangle of fabric around your zipper with about 1.5″ of space around.
Glue the Zipper and Finishing Touches
- This next part is the MOST fiddly part and you just have to go a little slow. Unzip the zipper and starting from the top edge of the book, glue with E6000 the zipper fabric to the inside. Using binder clips help keep it in place! I glued the top edge first and let that dry before moving on to the other 2 sides.
This is why you need the industrial strength glue here. E6000 will hold up to the zippering and un-zippering once it’s finished.
- Continue to glue the fabric all the way around the book making sure the zipper is lined up with itself.
- Cut a little rectangle of fabric the lay on the inside on your book against the inside of the spine. Glue it in.
- Cut 2 Heat n Bond rectangle for inside flaps about 6″ x 8″ inches (this is exactly an inch less than the dimensions of the book itself).
Here you can see I did this with all 3 book purses I made. The last one was still drying as you can see with the binder clips on the zipper.
- The last step is to iron or stick the Heat n Bond into the inside of the book. You can trim so of the excess fabric if you need but don’t do it too much. For the Pride and Prejudice book I used a bit of scrap muslin I had while I used the same fabric for the outside and inside of the Alice in Wonderland book.
- Optional: you can add a bit of ribbon through the zipper to have a cute little pull tab on the zipper.
I mean! These are just the best things ever. Not to brag too much but I just adore them. They have so many used too! I use one to store extra cords and things on my book cart, another for pens and other bullet journal stuff, and well I use my Pride and Prejudice one as a purse and show that baby off. Oh and it also make a great little case for my kindle! A book inside a book, what genius. What would you use one for?
Happy Making-
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