IN PACKAGE
2 Sheets of Colored Cardstock
10 Sheets of White Paper
1 Embroidery Needle
Embroidery Thread
Patterns
Instructions
YOU SUPPLY
Scissors
Thick Piece of Cardboard
2 Thumbtacks/ Push pins
Ruler
DIRECTIONS
NOTE: Following these instructions, you can create two embroidered notebooks. To make more, you could cut the paper provided in half to make four smaller notebooks.
1. Take 1 piece of colored cardstock, 5 sheets of the white paper, and fold them in half to make them 5.5” wide by 8.5” high. The colored cardstock will be the cover that you will embroider.
2. Choose a pattern for the cover from the two pages of patterns provided and cut it out for ease of use.
3. Lay down a thick piece of cardboard. Flatten the folded cardstock on top of the cardboard. Make sure to place the pattern where you want it on the front cover.
4. Holding the pattern down with one hand and using a thumbtack or push pin with the other hand, punch through each of the circles in the top of the design. If you have more thumbtacks or push pins, leave one in place to help hold your pattern in the cardboard and continue to punch through the rest of the circles with a second thumbtack/push pin. If you do not have a thumbtack or push pin, your needle will work to poke the holes.
5. Depending on which pattern you choose, you may need a lot of embroidery thread. Thread the needle with a long piece of the thread. Tie a knot at the end.
6. Starting at one end, stitch up through the hole from the inside of the cover and down through the next hole, and pull tight but gently.
7. Continue stitching the design, replicating the lines on the pattern. Some patterns use the running stitch and others may use the backstitch, but you can come up with your own way as well.
8. If you run out of thread before your design is complete, stop when the thread is a little longer than a needle’s length. Cut a new strand and knot it to the existing thread and try to get the knot as close to the paper as possible. You can leave the tails long and trim them when you are done. Make sure that the knots and changes of thread are always on the inside of the cover.
9. Once all the stitching is complete, stack the opened white pages on top of one another and fit them inside of the embroidered cover. The piece of cardboard should be placed beneath the opened notebook. The center of the inside of your notebook should be facing up.
10. Stab through the center of the pages with the thumbtack/push pin. Leave it to help hold the pages while you take the second thumbtack/push pin to poke a hole that is between the top of the notebook and the center in the crease. Pull it out and poke another hole in between the bottom of the notebook and the center in the crease.
11. Unpin the notebook from the cardboard and flip it over so the cover is facing up (front cover will be on the right).
12. Cut a piece of embroidery thread at least four times the distance between the top and bottom hole and thread it onto the needle. DO NOT tie a knot on the end this time!
13. Stitch down the center hole and up through the top hole. Then stitch down the bottom hole and up through the center, being careful not to split the existing threads.
14. Make sure there is a tail on each side of the long stitch in the spine. Try to even up the ends and pull the threads tight.
15. Overhand knot the strands together. Tighten it as close to the spine of the notebook as you can. Then separate the threads and pull to tighten it even further and trim them to the desired length.
16. If you followed the instructions from #1, you should have 1 sheet of colored cardstock, 5 sheets of white paper, and some embroidery thread left to make another notebook.
