Gorgeous Homemade Journals and DIY Wedding Guest Books

Velvet is a super trendy fabric at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that you need to limit it to fashion! Making a velvet book cover can be much easier than you might think, and it is a fabulous way to add a personal touch to books or journals. We especially love this technique to make a gorgeous DIY wedding guest book that you can keep and display for years to come. Use this tutorial to upcycle old books or to create homemade gifts for your bridal party or loved ones. Let the project inspire you!

Tools

• Scissors
• Ruler
• Binder Clips
• Paintbrush or scrap of Mat Board

Materials

• Velvet
• Hard Cover Book
• Sobo Glue

Steps

1. Gather the tools and materials listed above.
2. Cut the velvet to the size of the book when open, with at least an extra inch of fabric on each side.
3. Apply the glue to the front cover of the book evenly using a piece of scrap mat board or paintbrush to distribute.
4. Flip the cover and press firmly onto the velvet. Smooth out any wrinkles.
5. Apply glue to the back cover and spine in the same way.
6. Wrap with remaining velvet and smooth out wrinkles. Allow to dry.
7. Open the book and cut tabs into the velvet to fold around the corners of the book. See the photo tutorial below for a visual guide, or use our helpful diagram in the printable instructions!
8. Glue down the the top and bottom tabs. Hold into place with binder clips.
9. Glue down the side tab and hold in place with binder clips. Repeat with the back cover when the glue is dry.
10. Cut a small tab in the velvet for the book spine. Depending on how the book was constructed, you might be able to glue and then tuck the fabric under where the pages are bound together.
11. Add a binder clip to the spine and repeat for the other end. Let dry.
12. If you are using a blank journal, you can apply glue to the inside cover evenly and open the front page to attach and cover the velvet tabs. If not, cut a piece of paper of your choice a quarter-inch smaller on all sides than the inside cover. Glue into place and smooth out any wrinkles.
13. Allow to dry and repeat for the back inside cover.

Tips

We chose Sobo glue for this project (link in Shop this Project) because it works well for both paper and fabric. It also dries much slower than hot glue, so you have more time to place the velvet more precisely. If you did not place the velvet perfectly straight the first time, it is easy to reposition the fabric before the glue dries. We used a piece of mat board to spread the glue because it does not leave the same stroke marks that a paintbrush would. But of course we are a crafting studio so we have lots of scraps like that just lying around! A paintbrush will work perfectly fine for adding glue, but be sure to smooth everything out when you add the velvet. Generally we waited about an hour for the glue to dry before moving on to different parts of the book. If this is your first time making a velvet book cover, feel free to practice on a throw-away book before covering anything that you actually care about.

Strut Your Stuff!

We love seeing how our tutorials can inspire you, so please share your project photos with us on Instagram using #DIYDreamingWithLia! For another fabulous velvet project, don’t miss our DIY velvet headboard tutorial. Pop over to our membership page to get in on the crafty fun with us, or leave a comment below with requests and suggestions for projects you would like to see next on the site. Enjoy! ~ Lia & Team

Sobo Glue

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