This little color book is a fast, easy sew and such a fun little book for little ones! It’s soft for babies and full of bright, vibrant colors. Each color book is made from a single fat quarter of fabric designed specifically for this book, so you can likely make it in less than an hour. Makes a great baby shower gift for a fun new addition to your on-the-go bag!

 

These fun little color books are made from fat quarter panels that I designed and sell in my spoonflower fabric shop. They are available on kona quilting cotton or on linen cotton canvas. With either fabric, you can choose to order a single fat quarter or you can order it by the yard and get 4 panels per yard, which makes a total of 4 books per yard of fabric.

In the photos above, the book on the top/left is made from kona quilting cotton and the book on the bottom/right is made from linen cotton canvas. Both fabrics make a really great finished book. The book made from the kona quilting cotton is a little more slim with a smooth texture. The book made from the linen cotton canvas is thicker, with a more rich texture.

(Note: Spoonflower is a fun site that allows you to order fabric designs on a wide variety of fabrics. You could of course order this design on other kinds of fabric, but I have specifically designed this fat quarter panel for the fabrics listed above. For best results, I recommend using the suggested fabrics.)

 

To make this book you will need:

• 1 Color Book fat quarter in either kona quilting cotton or linen cotton canvas
• White thread*
• Sewing scissors
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Iron and ironing board
• Press cloth**

*I recommend sewing this book with white thread so it will blend into your finished book and any small mistakes will be much less noticeable. I’ve chosen to use red thread in the tutorial below so it’s easier to see stitching lines for instructional purposes.

**A press cloth is a piece of plain cotton fabric to use for ironing to protect the fabric you’re sewing with.

 

When your fabric order arrives, it will look like this.

(Note: The fat quarter shown above is kona quilting cotton. If you’ve ordered the linen cotton canvas, the instructions will be printed along the right edge of the fat quarter.)

 

STEP 1: Cut along black outlines to cut out each page

(Note: When cut, your pages should look like the photo above. Do not cut out individual color squares.)

 

STEP 2: Pin page A front and back together

Leave a 2-3″ opening along bottom edge (marked in red in the photo above).

 

STEP 3: Sew around page using a 1/2″ seam allowance

Be sure leave the 2-3″ opening along the bottom edge.

 

STEP 4 (optional): Cut off black page outlines

You could skip this step if you want to, but I like to trim the black outlines off so there’s no chance of black lines showing through the white fabric in the finished book.

 

STEP 5: Clip corners

Cut diagonally across the seam allowance of each corner to reduce bulk. As you cut, make sure you do not cut through any of your stitching.

 

STEP 6: Turn right side out and press

Turn the page right side out and use a chopstick to gently push corners and seam edges into place. Press (iron), making sure to use a press cloth to protect the printed areas on the page. Be sure to press both the front and the back of the page so everything will be smooth and crisp.

 

STEP 7: Edgestitch

Pin opening if needed and edgestitch* around the entire page.

*To edgestitch means to sew 1/8″ away from the edge. Most sewing machines have a marking on the presser foot to make this easy to do. If you’re not familiar with edgestitching, you may want to practice on a piece of scrap fabric first.

 

STEP 8: Repeat steps 2-7 for pages B and C

Note that if, as you’re working, you get the pages mixed up, it’s easy to tell which pages go together. All pages are the same height (top edge to bottom edge), but they are not the same width (right edge to left edge). Page A (cover + white/black) is the longest, page B (brown/pink + red/purple) is 1/4″ shorter than page A, and page C (blue/orange + yellow/green) is 1/2″ shorter than page A. This is so that when the book is finished and folded in half along the center fold line, the middle pages won’t stick out past the front/back cover. This also makes it easy, as you’re working, to tell which pages go together, front and back.

Of course, you can also always use the photo at the beginning of this tutorial which shows the entire fat quarter as a reference since it has the page title + front/back printed below it.

 

STEP 9: Begin to layer pages

Now, with pages A, B, and C sewn, it’s time to layer the pages so you can sew them into the finished book. Start by laying page A (front cover + white/black) page with the white/black side facing up like in the photo above.

 

STEP 10: Add next layer

Now, add page B on top with the red/purple side facing up. Make sure page A and B are aligned along the center fold line printed in light gray at the center of each page.

 

STEP 11: Add final layer

Now layer page C on top with the yellow/green side facing up. Again, make sure all pages are aligned along center fold lines. Then pin pages together along the left and right edges to keep them from shifting while you sew.

 

STEP 12: Sew book spine

With the pages pinned together (see step 11), turn layered pages over so the front/back cover is facing up. Then sew along center fold line.

Note that it can be bulky near the top and bottom edges of the pages due to the extra fabric from seam allowances. To make it easier to sew, start sewing about 1″ down from the top edge along the center fold line, backstitch all the way up to the top edge of the book, then continue sewing down to the bottom edge of the book.

 

STEP 13: Fold book

Now that you’ve finished sewing your book, fold it in half along the center fold line and crease with your fingers.

 

That’s it! You’ve finished your book!

If you have any questions or comments please leave them in the comments below! You can find more of my fabric designs in my spoonflower shop.

If you make this or any other project with my fabric, I’d love to see! Please tag me @katielewisstudio on Instagram and use the hashtag #katielewisfabric.

Can’t wait to see what you make!