Crafty Destash: Easy to Sew Winnie the Pooh Cloth Book
When my son was young, I bought several cloth book panels. I made a few for him (one I absolutely loved was a Dinosaur Train book!) and as I was weeding through my fabric stash last month I realized that I had TWO of these Winnie the Pooh cloth book panels! One of them was even cut out, but it had never been sewn. (What was I thinking??) This book took about an hour to put together. Not bad for a Friday night!
I’ve had to opt out of the crafty destash the past few months, but this month I’m back!
The thing about cloth books is that they have the directions on the panel. They tend to be just a few “pages” that you put together, and once you have them cut out and figure out where the pages go, it’s smooth sailing from there!
So I matched all of my pages together. I ironed them because they’ve accumulated at least 5 years of wrinkles, and I cut out a piece of fusible fleece for each set of pages. I used a thicker fusible fleece, but other books have taken the thinner fusible backing and that’s easier to sew. (This wasn’t terrible, though.)
My back page had a place for a name, so I popped this into my Brother embroidery machine and stitched my daughter’s name in! I didn’t use a backing or anything (that’s why it’s a tad pulled around her name.) I’m really pleased with how it turned out. My last time with the cloth books, I did not have an embroidery machine, and I hand stitched my son’s name (or I didn’t put a name at all.)
I ironed on the fusible fleece onto one of the pages of each “set” of pages. Then I placed the two pages so they were right sides together. Sewed around each edge, leaving about 3-4 inches open, cut the corners (so they’d lay flat when I pulled it all through.) And then I pulled each page through the opening, ironed them flat, and sewed the opening so it was closed.
The final step is laying all of the pages together, finding the center and sewing down the middle. Honestly, mine is a little slanted. I do not mind, though. (And my daughter didn’t notice.)
I love this little book and I can’t wait to take it along on our trip next week!
Check out the other crafty destash projects this month – and if you’d like to join in the Craft Room De-Stash Challenge, you can request to join our Facebook group here!
What kinds of projects are you working on right now?
This is an adorable idea. What a sweet keepsake for your child or grandchild.
I sure didn’t notice it was slanted! What a sweet book you & your daughter can enjoy together, and you have the added satisfaction of knowing you made it!
Ohhhh, I didn’t know you could buy fabric like that! What a wonderful idea. Thank you for sharing <3
What a sweet little project! I’m glad you were able to find the time to destash and make something useful š
Oh my goodness, this brings back memories of my kids being babies š My mom made each of them a cloth book, and now I have them stored away for their own kids one day. So sweet, it’s fun to see them still being made. I like how you embroidered the name, great idea.
My little guy loves those cloth books. I love that he can’t rip the pages out too. Haha! Yours turned out so cute!!
This is such a sweet project. I didn’t realize they made cloth book panels! Very cute.
Oh-you had me at Poo!! So many great memories of my kids childhood bedrooms!! Great project!
I love these cloth books. I have made a couple but not for a very long time. Winnie the Pooh is awesome and yours looks so nice.