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Two DIY paper books with blue and green covers laying on a tabletop with three pens on top of them.
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How to Make a DIY Paper Book with a Cardstock Cover

Learn how to make a DIY paper book with a cardstock cover in this easy step-by-step tutorial! We will be using a sewing machine to quickly bind the blank books together.
Author: Laura Radniecki

Materials

  • White Printer Paper
  • Scrapbook or Construction Paper
  • Quilt Clips
  • Sewing Machine

Instructions

  • Fold the white printer paper in half, creasing it firmly in the middle.
  • Fold the cover paper in half.
  • Center the interior pages onto the cover paper, making sure the middle creases line up. Use quilt clips to hold the inside paper pages and the outside cover together so they don't move around.
  • (Option 1) Sew a straight stitch down the middle crease of the book, from the top of the white interior pages down to the bottom. Backstitch at the beginning and end.
    Note: Sewing from the inside is easy because you can use the white paper to guide where to start and stop your stitches. The creased pages also make a path to sew in.
    The downside of sewing the book from the inside is that the visible stitches on the outside of your book will be the bobbin stitches, which can look messy.
  • (Option 2) Flip the book over after you have clipped the inside pages and the cover together.
  • You will sew down the outside crease of the book instead.
    This way, your neat top stitches will be visible from the outside of your book, and the messy bobbin stitches will be hidden on the inside.
    The downside of this method is you can't see where the interior white pages start and stop so you'll have to approximate where to begin and end sewing. You'll also be sewing down the book's ridge.

Notes

  • Decide whether to sew on the inside or outside of the book depending on what type of cover paper you choose. Colorful patterned paper hides messy stitching better than solid color covers.
  • Every piece of printer paper yields 2 pages in your finished book. If you want your book to have 10 pages when it's done, use 5 pieces of white paper. If you want your book to have 20 pages, use 10 pages of printer paper.
  • If you don't have a sewing machine, you can use a stapler or a hole punch and string to bind your books.