Kindle Cover DIY Tutorial

I'm really excited to share today's post with you. Here's the tutorial for the kindle cover that I made. It is very picture-heavy, but it is so much easier to see what's going on in pictures versus in words. I would say the whole project cost less than $5, which is so much better than the $20+ you could spend, and it's totally customizable. After figuring out the first one, I would say it took less than 20 minutes as well. It takes longer than that to look through all the online and in-store options!

Here's what you need:
- A composition notebook or other hard-cover book  (The sturdier it is, the better. I found a pretty sturdy one at Walmart for under $2. The black and white ones aren't super, but they'll still work.)
- Fabric scrap choices-
*one at least the dimensions on your notebook, plus 2-3 inches for folding over
*a strip in a coordinating pattern, optional
*flannel, fleece, or batting, optional, but gives it a little more sturdiness and padding
-1/8" elastic
- hot glue gun/sticks (I like it because it's so easy to work with. I went through about 7 or 8 sticks per cover.)
- cardboard scraps (at least the size of your kindle or reader)
- iron, optional
-scissors
-pencil or pen
-ruler
-your Kindle or tablet for measurements

Step One:
Remove pages from book. Just snip the strings.

Step Two:
Lay out your fabric to covering the outside of the notebook. This is why I said the iron is optional. As you can see, the fabric was very wrinkly, but if you pull it tight enough around the book, you won't be able to tell! Glue the fabric to the outside, pulling as tight as possible. Make sure that the fabric is wrong side up.Don't be afraid to use a lot of glue! You don't want it to be saggy. Turn it over and glue the fabric to the inside of the notebook.

Step Three:
Fold down any extra fabric you have. This part reminds me of the beginning of the school year when we would have to cover our books (before the stretchy book covers they have now) and we would use brown paper bags. I glued the corners down onto the fabric, to make the folding all of it down easier.

 

I used a lot more fabric than was probably necessary, but this way you don't have to worry about covering up as much of the notebook as you would if the outside fabric was cut shorter. I hope that makes sense! After folding and covering the book, we have that space to hide. Using the coordiinating fabric, cut a strip to your desired width. It has to be at least twice as long as the book plus some, so it will go all the way around. I attached it with the hot glue again (stick # 4 maybe?)

Put the notebook to the side. We'll come back to it.

Step Four:

Now we are going to start working on the home for the Kindle. Take your cardboard and cut to slightly bigger than your Kindle measurements. I would give measurements, but they are all different sizes... Cover the cardboard with your batting and fabric. Again, I used hot glue for this step as well. Pull the fabrics nice and tight so it doesn't sag.

Before (the back of the cardboard before fabric) and after (the front with the Kindle on it.) The extra space around it will make adding the elastic easier.

Step Five:
This is the hardest part of the project: marking where to put the holes for the elastic. Knowing that the holes should actually be underneath the Kindle so it can be nice and snug, I marked my holes 3/4" in from each side, and at a diagonal. I tried to show my measurements, but like I said, since they are all different sizes, it may be different for you.

Poke holes through all of the layers to thread the elastic through. I needed to use scissors and my cricut poker, but whatever works best for you! After getting the holes in, thread the elastic, about 4 inch pieces,  through your holes, with the ends at the back. Glue them down nice and tight so they don't move or loosen up. It's okay if it looks ugly, since it won't show anyway.

What it looks like with the elastics in place.

Step Six:

Take the whole middle piece, and using LOTS of glue, glue it into the notebook. This will cover any gaps you may have between all of the layers. To cover any gaps you may have on hte other side, you can glue in another piece of cardboard or coordinating paper.

 

 Now the main part is all done. If you want to, add a ribbon under that outside "binding" strip to tie it closed.

Here are all three of the covers I made (one for each of us and mom.) They can be held in either orientation, and since it's just a pretty-fied notebook, they don't take up any more room than that!

Now it's your turn! Let me know if you've made one and I'd love to share it!

Thanks for stopping by!