Using a ruler, mark a faint line with a pencil on your paper the dimensions of your cover, and then with a sharp pair of scissors, cut your paper to size. Avoid laying the book out so that a previous crease that was in a bag or on your paper aligns with a cover edge. If your paper is already worn, it will tear more easily when it is on an edge of the book. [2] X Research source
Go back over the creases you have made in the paper with a pen or bone folder. You want your creases to be crisp and clean, especially if you are using heavy paper. [3] X Research source
With the flap in the right side of the book, close the book and wrap the paper around the book and mark where you want to fold the paper to make the last flap. Take the book of the paper, and crease the flap for the left side of the book. Go over the crease with your bone folder or pen again, but remember to keep the crease lighter.
To create the paper sheet you will cover your book with, lay the papers on top of each other so that the piece below sticks out 2 inches from the bottom edge of the top paper. Use double sided tape to adhere the two pieces of paper together at the edges of the paper.
To secure your notebook in the cover, put your notebook under the rubber band closer to the book opening, and set it on top of the rubber band nearer to the book spine.
You should prewash your fabric to prevent it from shrinking. Iron the fabric before you use it as well. You will need less fabric for the inside of the cover and more for the outside.
For example, your height and width may be 8 (height)x 12 ½ (width of book spread open) inches, and then you would add another inch to have 9 x 13 ½ inches. For the dimensions of the inside flaps, use the same cover dimension for the height, for my example it is 9 inches. To find the width, divide the width by 3. In my example, 13 ½ divided by 3 is 4. 5 inches. My fabric will measure 9 x 4. 5 inches.
Pin the 4 fabric sheets together. To keep the fabric in place while you sew, pin about four pins on the bottom and top of the fabric and the three pins on the sides of the fabric.
