8.7.14--ENJOYING!

I finished a binder cover. 

Almost finished, flower needs a little more needlework
and a button.Wonder if I have an ORANGE one.........

I have tried a lot of tutorials for binder covers and never actually followed the directions, really, but put my own spin on the designer's directions. No wonder I keep searching for the perfect binder cover "pattern".

Have you ever made one? Did you know that not all binders of the same size are actually THE SAME SIZE? 

This time, I bought Wilson-Jones 1 inch binders. There is no office supply store near me, so I waited until we needed to go to a BIG town and found a supply store. I should have just waited until the big box discount stores got their school supplies in. The pickin' s were slim a month ago and I do not believe I got a very good price. Anyway, I bought 6 and I know they all measure the same, although, when binders go on sale around HERE, I will probably not find the same brand and I will have to remeasure and redraft my pattern.

This time, I loosely followed this tutorial from JustSewIt.
I linked you to the first page, but there are three more. I read through the directions a couple SEVERAL times.

It explains how to measure and draft the pattern. Of course, after reading it a billion times I did it wrong anyway. I wish I had left a little more wiggle room for the seam allowance but it worked out. She is not so clear with the origami flower but I had enough paper origami experience to know what she meant when she said "see if you can figure out what I did". I also could tell from her pictures to use a 7" square of fabric for the flower.

Ready to ship! Purple and orange predominate.
Can you guess which state this heading to?

Some things I did differently on purpose:
1. I used garment fleece and quilted my cover fabric to the fleece with no backing--kind of an "open-faced" quilt sandwich
2. I put the design element and pocket on the inside left cover in case the recipient wants to cram it into a backpack. All the "delicate" work will be protected.

Some things I will do better next time:
1. Allow another inch more all around  for quilting "take up"--I had to iron the religion out of it to make it fit afterward.
2. ONLY use garment fleece  for the outside cover and find some other interfacing for the inside parts
3. Try to remember what Audrey says. 

IT IS JUST FABRIC. CUT IT. USE IT.

No more hesitation. I can DO IT. I can cut that fabric. It is just fabric. And, boy, do I have a lot of it.