Quiet Book Sew-Along: Yardage Overview {week 1}

by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 13, 2014

Here we are – the first official Quiet Book Sew-Along post. How excited are you?! This post has a lot of beginning information, but I promise we will be sewing in no time. Besides, choosing fabrics isn’t bad ever, right?!

Today we are going to get ready by making sure you have thought through your fabric choices. You will need a bit of time to collect yardage for the page backgrounds and cover, and also pick up some interfacing and binding for the pages. I’ve included helpful information on what to buy for each of these below. I would also recommend not cutting any of your fabrics until you need them. However, you can pre-wash them, it’s important that a kid-friendly book be washable!

There are lots of helpful hints in this post – but since is information heavy I have give you the shopping list for week 1 first. Just click, print it and go. Remember, just like a pattern, all of this information is important so be sure to read over it so you don’t miss anything!

PAGE BACKGROUNDS:

You have two choices for the page background fabrics. The starting size of each page is 9″ x 9″. I would recommend using a quilting cotton weight fabric for them. Since we are building more fabric onto each page they can be hard to finish and bind if they are too thick. Here are your two options:

Page Background Yardage:

1. Scrappy Look: If you take  a look at my book, you will see that none of the background pages use the same fabric. I love the scrappy look and I also love using pieces from my stash that are too small for other projects. 6 of the pages for this book are based on a scrappy look anyhow and wouldn’t use a coordinating fabric background. You can buy or use your scraps for the page background fabrics as we get to them, some have specific colours.
2. Cohesive Look: If you like a more cohesive look it would be fun to order enough fabric now to cover all of the page backgrounds. Eight of the 12 pages can use the same background fabric. There are 6 pages that won’t need it due to their construction. You will need to buy 3/4 of a yard of fabric for the page backgrounds.

COVER FABRIC:

Once you have decided on a scrappy or cohesive look you need to choose a cover fabric. You have two options for the cover:

1. Cohesive Look: Cover matches the pages. Buy 1 yard of 44″ wide fabric. This is enough fabric for your pages & cover (see diagram below).
2. Scrappy Look: Cover is different. Buy 1/2 yard of 44″ wide fabric. Note: You can still choose to match only your pages as per the “pages only cohesive look” above.

Both yardage recommendations are below and in the shopping list. The cover is 11″ high by 21″ wide. You need 2 pieces, one each for the inside and outside of the book. I found it helpful to buy this at the beginning because I think it influenced my colour decisions as I went. Even though my book is scrappy, I tended towards a more colourful look because the outside fabric was black and white. This gives you quite a bit of extra fabric to play with later! (Hooray for stashing!)

Cover Fabric Yardage:

Option 1 – Pages & Cover are the same.

Option 2 – Cover Only (Scrappy Look)

INTERFACING:

You will also need a few “boring” things like interfacing and binding. To be honest, I don’t remember if I used heavyweight or medium weight interfacing in my book. However, I am recommending that you use a medium fusible interfacing for this Sew Along because that is what it feels like I used. Also, I think I only interfaced every other page, so one of each pair of pages that are sewn together has interfacing. This time around though I think I am going to interface both – it will make the pages a bit stiffer, which would be nice. This is what I have included on your shopping list.

Interfacing Yardage: 

• You will need 3 yards of 20″ wide medium-weight fusible interfacing.

BINDING:

As far as the binding. I used what I had last time and stitched half of the pages with white 1/2″ double-fold binding and half of them with black grosgrain ribbon folded in half. This time around I want them all to match, so I am going to recommend the 1/2″ double-fold binding. You don’t need the binding until the end of October, but again, if you like to have everything planned out you can buy it now and I will remind you again later! You can also choose to make your own binding, and if you do it does not have to be cut on the bias, which will make it a bit easier to sew.

Binding Yardage:

• You will need 3 yards of 1/2″ double-fold bias tape exactly to bind all of the pages. Buy 1/2 yard extra if you want to be safe.

So – which are you choosing to make – A Scrappy or a Cohesive look? What colour are you using for your binding? I’ve got to decide on my cover fabric this week too. Since I’m trying to make a unisex book it’ll be a more interesting challenge!

The Great Quiet Book Sew-Along

by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 7, 2014

*Edit* Find all the Quiet Book Sew-Along Tutorials in the final post => Quiet Book Sew-Along Overview

(cue trumpet fanfare!) As the title says, we have quite a few people signed up so we can start our Quiet Book Sew-Along! I’m so excited to be doing this together! Aside from the fact that I will have another book “under my belt”, I’m mostly excited to be able to sew it with you!

If you are not sewing along don’t dismay, I’ve got you covered! These page tutorials and patterns are not only great for a quiet book – they can be used to make toddler pillows, t-shirt appliques and stuffies. Not to mention useful projects like a “learn to tie a shoe” toy for an older child. There are so many other options, I’m excited to see what you can come up with!

Still not convinced? I’ll be posting my usual assortment of tutorials and posts, so you can ignore the quiet book and pretend it’s not happening!

Since I like to plan things out, here are a few answers to questions you might have. It helps me to sort out the logistical side, and you will know where we are headed.

When will we finish the book?

• Just in time for Christmas!
• Each page, plus the page finishing/binding and the cover will take 2 or 3 weeks to complete. Since we have 40 weeks from now until the beginning of December and I’ve calculated using up 35 of those weeks to make our books. This will allow for anomalies and a break for me every once in a while – remember – No Stress!

What can I expect?

• Every week (except those random unassigned 5) I will post either a material list, cutting instructions and/or a tutorial for making the page or finishing the book. Sometimes the cutting and making will be in the same week, but the material list will always be given 1 week ahead of time so you can get your fabrics ready.
• I will try to post Sew-Along installments either on Wednesdays or Thursdays. I’m not going to promise, but I’ll definitely do my best!
• There are a few pages that require specific items – the puzzle page uses number fabric, the telephone uses an iron-on transfer, the road page uses road fabric. I am sorting this out but it may mean that I find a way to sell kits for these specific pages. Let me know if you have ideas on how to best do this.

How can I keep track of the posts?

• I will be adding a page link on my blog called “Sew-Along”. This will contain a list of each post as it is added + other some other information. I will also have a button for the Sew-Along available, should you want to add it to your blog.

Quiet Book – Pages 7-12

by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 30, 2014

Here is the last set of quiet book pages PLUS a very important question at the bottom of this post! (Here is the Quiet Book Construction post and the Quiet Book – Pages 1-6 post if you’re looking for it.)

*Update: This Quiet Book is now a Sew-Along! Check out more information in the Overview post.

The 7th page is the Tired Teddy Bear page! This is the wonkiest teddy bear I have made yet! He is crooked and I (still) can’t embroider properly, but this page gets the second most use in our house. For some reason it is awesome as a toddler to put teddy to bed and pull him out again (poor teddy!). I used a small piece of sweater knit to make him cozy, and the quilt ends up being 1″ squares, which is tolerable in a page this small. Teddy’s pillow is a scrap piece of fun fur. He really is cozy in there. Except for the jingle bell in his stomach – that’s really gotta feel a bit uncomfortable!

I love rainbows. And every good kid’s book needs to explain colours – so this page is one of my favorites. I basically found scraps of each colour and stitched them together. The lettering is made with a fabric pen. My favorite part are the wiggly-eye buttons I found somewhere. I stitched them on like crazy and thankfully they didn’t get chewed on!

This car page was almost the death of this project. I didn’t have a piece of this fabric large enough, so I stitched some smaller scraps together. Really… and it really looks like a road still… I know, I’m crazy. And I actually switched thread colours as needed – amazing! It took a while and if I remember right the project was at a stand-still for weeks while I didn’t allow myself to sew anything else until it was done. The unfold-able page also has a zippered pocket so the Square, Circle and Triangle cars don’t go missing. Shapes are important for learning, but are very impractical as a model for cars! They are made out of 2 layers of leather scraps I had around, and lots of patience and slow sewing.

The door/house page was the first one I made. I wanted it as scrappy-looking as possible and it is one of my favorites. For some reason, no matter how many of these books I make, The door knob snap always ends up on the wrong part of the inside fabric. I really should have put the elephant in a different spot, and that will always bug me!

Kids like peek-a-boo and this page is included in countless other quiet books I looked at for inspiration. I made the mitten extra large so it would be easy to put on. The photo can actually be changed because I left an extra-long (kid-proof!) flap on the top of the clear pocket. It folds down behind the photo.

The last page has an abacus of sorts. Only with different amounts of beads on each string. I stitched the life out of this page ensuring that it would be safe for my 1-year-old baby. I think I glued the ends of the strings, then stitched on the rick-rack, then double-stitched… you get the picture. I made these numbers in puffy paint. In hind-sight, I am never going to use puffy paint again – it looks kind of tacky. But it works, and it reminds me of the 1980’s/90’s? – when I was “cool” and wore shirts I made myself, with puffy paint!

So, there you have it – the whole book! What do you think? Are you interested in sewing 1 or 5 of them?

I am curious to know if you would like to make one as part of a Quiet Book Sew Along. We could fit in 12 pages + a cover by the end of November (ie: before Christmas!) if we sewed 1 page every 3 weeks. I would post one part of the tutorial each week, allowing for material collection, sewing and finishing. Interested? Leave a comment, and if there is enough interest we’ll do it – so please let me know!

Quiet Book – Pages 1-6

by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 28, 2014

*Update: This Quiet Book is now a Sew-Along! Check out more information in the Overview post.

I’m so glad all of you are excited about this project! Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment on the last post. I especially think that Shari’s comment about switching out the binder rings for large key rings is genius! That would work way better and there would be zero chance that the kidlets remove the pages or get hurt/pinched that way. If you are just joining in, the last post was about the construction of this quiet book and the next post will have the last 6 pages. I’ll link it up here when it is posted. *Update: The last 6 pages are here.

Here are the first 6 pages of the Quiet Book:

The first page is a good ‘ol “button the flower” page. I had a lot of fun with green rick rack and some felt flowers I had picked up on sale somewhere. I think I bought these bee buttons especially for this page. Make sure the button hole is BIG so little hands don’t have problems practicing their buttoning. The curly lines are made with a fabric paint pen.

Next is the pretty purple purse page (say that 10 times fast!). I wanted a way to include family photos in this book because little kids love looking at pictures of people they know. The purse holds a tiny album (made with clear plastic) and a photo of every family member. I think it is the silver rings and purse handle that make this one cute. It’s just like a real purse – only with less stuff inside!

This is the shirt and pants page. The “please learn to dress yourself” page! I included the bottom of an old shirt and the top of an old skirt. The skirt can be used for snap and zipper practice, and the ribbon belt can be buckled and unbuckled. The shirt holds a little surprise – it comes with it’s own belly button, very Cabbage Patch-esque! My daughter thinks it’s hilarious – so I’m glad I put it in.

The telephone page always gets the most use at our house. As you can see from the seam that needs mending on the receiver. I’m not sure why I made such an old fashioned phone. I suppose a cell phone would have made more sense – or a cordless one at least! But the kids know it is a phone, so it works. The cord is a curly shoe lace. The number pad is made using white fabric and an inkjet t-shirt transfer.

Tying your shoes comes much later in life, so I’m not sure why I included it. This shoe lace has actually spent most of it’s life tied in a double-knot – so my 1+ year old couldn’t untie it and choke on it. Maybe I should remember this page for when my oldest gets her first pair of tying shoes!

Counting is always good, and puzzles. This page combines them by using some really great fabric I think I still have a bunch of. The numbers and pictures are cut out with notches for each. All of the pieces are stuck on with Velcro. They can be interchanged, but they don’t match up if you do it wrong! Tricky! (hee hee) I think I put fusible fleece in between my layers to make them thicker.

That’s it for the first 6 pages. Hang in – there are still 6 more pages to go! I’m sure I will be posting them in the next few days.

Made by Me Monday – Quiet Book {construction}

by Sherri Sylvester | Jan 28, 2014

This week’s post subject is a un/happy accident – or not (we will find out tomorrow!). As I was finishing today’s project my machine decided to make some lovely loud clunking noises. So I decided I should pull out a project to show you that has been around for a while.

*Edit* This book is now a free tutorial series! CLICK HERE for the FREE 12 Page Quiet Book Series – Including links to all 27 posts and tutorials!

I made each of my girls a quiet book when they were 1, this book is my youngest’s. It is one of the most time consuming projects I have ever made, but I love the results! Everything is attached to the book – which was important to me – I hate lost pieces! And (almost) nothing is felt. If you are here for ideas, please take them. Be warned – this takes a long time, a really long time! But, in the end it is worth it, and it is a wonderful keepsake.

The no-felt idea came about because I really wanted everything to last as long as possible. I think I have/had the idea in my head that felt balls up and tears and is in general an inferior product to fabric. I think though, if I was to do it again, I might be open to using some – just maybe the “good stuff”, and not the felt from my local craft store. Either way, not using felt makes the whole project take a lot longer, since every seam must be finished and pieces need to be “good on both sides”!

I have made a few of these and I think the method of attaching the book pages is different in each one. I like this book’s construction the best.  It is the easiest to add pages to and simplest to construct. One piece of grosgrain ribbon, stitched with 2 channels for 2 binder rings. Each book page has 2 loops added when it is stitched together, and it is hooked into the binder ring – tada! I thought maybe my daughter would figure out how to take it apart, or start chewing on it and happily neither thing happened! So I think it is a success.

This book also has a ribbon tag on the outside edge for each page. The ribbons all correspond to something on that page and I love how they look. It makes the book all the more fun-looking. I also love the outside fabric – Alice in Wonderland. It may seem to be a bit morbid to make a child’s toy in black – but it sets off the colourful pages so nicely! Inside this one I was apparently into making work for myself, because many of the pages have a patchwork background. I love looking through and remembering where a lot of the fabrics came from. I really need to make a scrappy quilt top someday to use up my scraps and keep my memories somewhere!

The outside of the book is flat, I think I added in some interfacing and fusible fleece. If I was doing it again I would most definitely add in some batting and fun quilting. But this thing is almost 3 years old and I’ve learned a lot since! The grosgrain ribbon goes all the way around the book to the back, where I’ve added a tab and velcro. It was sewn on before the inside was attached. So the stitching doesn’t show on the inside. I’ve also used ribbon and bias tape to finish the bottom and top edges of each page. It was what I had on hand at the time, and with an almost 1-year-old around you generally don’t just “run” to the store for something!

This was going to be the world’s longest, most photo heavy post – so I decided to split up the construction and the pages and post a few times in a row this week. I will update each post with links to the others as I go. What do you think so far? *Update: You can find the first 6 pages here and the last 6 pages here.