Grace's Quiet Book- Pie Page

This was definitely my easiest page and only took about 15-30 minutes. It is a little too advanced for her at this age (2 1/2) but she should grow into it and it is good motor skills practice. Maybe one day she will want to weave baskets like Mommy! ;) (shameless plug for my etsy shop here.)

The pie page of Grace's quiet book was inspired by THIS one.  I used leftover blueberry fabric from THIS apron and some light tan felt.  I traced a CD for the "blueberry pie filling" and used heat'n'bond to attach it to the background. For the crust, I made the center circle a little smaller than a CD and eyeballed the wavy edge. 

I cut the strips of felt using pinking shears and put them under the crust on two sides. After lots of pinning, I used a simple zig zag stitch all the way around the circle to hold everything in place. Then, I trimmed the ends of the strips to follow the curve of the crust.

My zig zag skills aren't perfect, but it works.Now, remember the whole blueberry pie thing, because it will come back a little later in the book. :) Stay tuned... The next page is my favorite!!! 

If I get a moment or two, I will try to link up at these parties:

Sew Can Do, Motivate Me Monday, Take a Look Tuesday, Naptime Creations, Carolyn's Homework, The Winthrop Chronicles, Handmade Tuesdays, Inspire Me Wednesday, We Did It Wednesday, Adorned From Above, Your Whims Wednesday, Not Just a Housewife, Weekly Homemaking Party, Create It Thursday, The 36th Party, Friday Favs Party, Think Pink Sunday, and Threading Your Way.

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.