I believe I shared in an earlier post that I would post my book when it was finished, so I thought I better do that! I’m posting the main image here, but below the post I will share some photos showing different angles, and some inspiration photos as well (garden flowers, which are always part of my inspiration). I have been allowing myself lately to follow all of the artistic rabbit trails that pique my interest. I had watched a few mini classes about binding your own books, and while intrigued, I didn’t think that it looked very fun. But then I was in Michaels looking for my favourite mixed media journal (the small Dylusions Creative Journal), and couldn’t find a single thing similar to it, hence my need to finally take up book making. I love that the Dylusions journal lays open flat and also that it has cardstock pages. I figured I could use file folders for the pages of my own journal, since they are already folded and I could cut them to whatever size. I also ripped the edges of the pages so that they would not have to be perfectly cut to look all lined up, and also because I like the look of it.

To start, I got some denim fabric to use for the cover, then I just started hand stitching bits of fabric that caught my eye in a somewhat quilted fashion. It’s not measured, it’s not straight, but I wanted this project to be fun and not tedious. And I actually like things to be a bit wonky sometimes. I also left the selvage edge on some of them, just because I thought having the date on it would be interesting down the road, and as an artist, I love the little colour swatches.

I meant to leave denim showing, and the red printed selvage on the denim somewhat peeking through, but as I went, I just kept add more fabric, and more stitching, more lace, and more embroidery. It was such a relaxing project to have around for the summer when I was listening to a podcast or watching something at night with my husband. In the end, I love all of the layers, and in turn, how dense that made the final product. For the cover flap, I sewed a big piece of lace over all the other layers, and then added ombre stitching on top, and I think that was my favourite effect overall. I would definitely like to do some kind of project with that technique to be used as wall art in the future.

Some notes: I hand stitched almost the entire thing, which although relaxing, could have been done in much less time with a sewing machine. I think on another project, I would machine stitch the fabric on, and then embellish with bulkier hand stitching.

For binding the pages together, I just watched a quick video on youtube and then gave it a try. My technique was definitely not perfect, but I know what I would do differently next time. But the pages lie flat which is what I wanted.

I think that’s all I have to say about that! Feel free to ask any questions you might have.