DIY || Personalised Sewn Notebooks.

Hello you wonderful people! 

I am so so so excited to share this DIY with you today! I've never done a DIY like this before so I'd love feedback on how you found it. It might be a bit tricky to follow at some points due to my lack of ability to explain things, but I'd love for you all to give it a go and let me know if you need some more explanation! 

Notebooks are right up there on my list of things I love most in the world, and I'm sure they're high on some of your lists too. So without further ado, get your focusing hats on, and lets make our very own, completely customisable notebook!

Materials:

1. Wrapping paper, or patterned paper of your choice.

2. A cardboard box, or any sort of cardboard thick enough for the front cover. (Not too thick though, you want to be able to get a needle through it)

3. A needle and embroidery thread You want the needle to be pretty thick to be able to thread the embroidery thread on it, and also to be able to pierce the cardboard without breaking.

4. A5 photos for the front and back cover. These can be your own photos or just some that you like.

5. Contact to make your covers nice and smooth.

6. A4 Paper folded in half. You will fold 4 pieces in half to create one of the "segements" and then you can choose how many segments you make. Just remember, more segments = more pages.

7. The usual things: scissors, sticky tape, glue, pencil, ruler.

Alright, now take a big breath before we start....

1. Cut your cardboard into two pieces just ever so slightly bigger than A5. This will be your front and back covers.

2. Wrap your covers in your wrapping paper. If there's still cardboard showing (like mine) you can always stick another photo over the top for the inside cover.

3. Glue down the photos that you want on the covers. Then, using a ruler to ensure there are no bumps, stick the contact to your front and back covers.

4. Open each segment of 4 pieces paper to the middle, and using your ruler, mark a dot every 3.5cm along the fold of each segment. This will be your guide for sewing. Then, using your needle, pierce through the centre of each dot, all the way through all 4 pages. Repeat on each segment.

5. Repeat step 4 on the front and back cover

6. Ensure that all of the holes somewhat line up. This is also your chance to add more segments if you feel like you need more pages.

7. Thread your needle, and then thread it from the inside through to outside of your first segment. (This will actually be your last segment, as you are sewing from the back of the book to the front.)

8. Thread the needle through the underside of the back cover, through the hole that lines up.

9. Thread the needle back through the hole in the segment that you just sewed. Tie the two ends together on the inside of the segment. Now sew your needle through the next hole in the segment and repeat steps 7&8 until you reach the last hole in the segment. Once this happens, do not thread the needle back into the same hole you just came out of... instead, place the next segment on top and sew the needle into the hole of the new segment which is directly above the one you just came out of. MAKE SURE YOU ARE CONTINUALLY PULLING TIGHT.

10. This time, instead of sewing through the back cover, you are going to pass the needle underneath the loop that you made between the last segment and the back cover.

11. Repeat this for the rest of your segments, remembering each time you finish a row, not to sew the needle back through the last hole in the segment, but through the first hole of a new segment.

12. Once you reach the last segment you are going to sew it the same way. Once all your segments are attached, lay the front cover on top. Similar to the back cover, thread the needle from the outside to the inside of the front cover.

13. Once you have done this, pass the needle under the loop that you made between the first and second segment.

14. Then sew the needle back into the hole in the segment that lines up with the one you just sewed of the front cover. Repeat this down the entire segment until the cover is fully attached. Tie a knot in the middle of the first segment to secure the book.

YOU ARE FINISHED!

That wasn't so hard was it??

 

Now enjoy bragging to your friends about oh so wonderful new homemade, personalised notebook. I can assure you they will be jealous!

These also make great gifts, and before you contact the covers you can decorate them with stickers, photos, anything that the person you are giving it to will like. My favourite thing about these notebooks is that every single page lays completely flat, so they are perfect to use as sketch books. You could also swap up the blank paper for lined paper.

 I hope that wasn't too hard to understand, and maybe some of you will even try it out for yourselves! I would absolutely love to see photos if you do. You can tag me in them @thehalfwaypoint on instagram.

Hope you're all well and I will talk to you all when I get back from my cruise on Sunday!

Until then