Grace's Quiet Book ~ Introduction

This might be the best Christmas present I have ever made! I have been wanting to make a quiet book for a long time. I even blogged about the time I found the paper doll fabric I used. It was originally supposed to be for my daughter who is now 5 and (so I thought) too old. Thankfully, I have a few more in line after her so I could still make one. I really need to stop procrastinating! :)

Grace's quiet book was inspired by THIS one. I like the "shabby chic" look and I made this book entirely from my stash. The pages are all very "girly" and things that I thought she would like. I was going to put it into one big blog post, but it would be super duper long. I am breaking it up so that I can describe how I made each page and help anyone else who is looking to make a quiet book. I will warn you that they are a lot of work. It was really fun, though, and I think she really likes it.

For the backgrounds of all of the pages I used some fabric from my stash that had the same colors and "shabby chic," vintage look.  (A project like this would be great using a layer cake or cutting it from a fat quarter bundle.) My pages were about 11" square. The letters on the cover used fabric from my scrap bin (Oh, I used so many scraps in this book!) and they are attached with heat'n'bond and a satin stitch.  Each page was made by sewing two pages right sides together on the three outer sides, flipping right sides out, inserting a piece of batting, then sewing 1/4" from the edge all the way around the three sides to hold it in place. Then, the pages were all stacked together, in order, and sewn 1/4" from the edge. (Use a heavy needle!)

For the binding of the book, I just used that striped fabric to sew it on like quilt binding, but wider (although it doesn't have to be.) At the ends, I left the binding about a half inch longer than the book and folded the fabric in before hand stitching it in place so it is all neat and tidy.

So, that is a bit about the basic construction of the book.  For the next few weeks, whenever I get an opportunity, I am going to post about the individual pages. I am super happy with how they turned out and hopefully they will be helpful to someone else looking to make a quiet book. If you have any questions, just let me know!

UPDATE: You can see the first page, Weave Pie Crust, HERE.