Fabric Book Cover Pattern Maker
A fabric cover makes a paperback or journal feel like yours, and slips off when you want to swap books. Measure the book’s closed cover width, its height and its spine, and the cover and its tuck flaps are sized to fit.
Add a fabric pen loop sized to your pen, a ribbon bookmark, or a removable elastic closure. It uses one layer of fabric with turned hems.
Make this pattern in your size →What you can change
Size
- Closed cover width: 8–26 cm (3⅛–10¼″). Measure one cover, from spine to outer edge.
- Book height: 12–36 cm (4¾–14⅛″). Measure from top to bottom of the closed book.
- Spine width: 0.5–8 cm (¼–3⅛″). Thickness of the closed book at its spine.
Sizes are typed in centimetres, millimetres or inches. The starting size is Closed cover width 13 cm (5⅛″), Book height 20 cm (7⅞″), Spine width 2.5 cm (1″).
Options
- Switches: Fabric pen loop, Ribbon bookmark, Removable elastic closure
- Measurements and counts: Ease at each edge, Tuck flap depth, Pen diameter, Elastic width
Starting points
These are sizes and settings to begin from, and every one stays fully editable. Type your own measurements, or start from the nearest one.
| Starting point | Finished size, cm | Same starting point in round inches |
|---|---|---|
| Paperback cover | book 13 × 20 × 2.5 cm | book 5 × 8 × 1″ |
| Journal cover | book 15 × 22 × 2 cm | book 6 × 8½ × ¾″ |
| Large hardback cover | book 19 × 26 × 3.5 cm | book 7½ × 10 × 1½″ |
Cutting list
At the starting size (Closed cover width 13 cm (5⅛″), Book height 20 cm (7⅞″), Spine width 2.5 cm (1″)) the pattern has these pieces. Fabric sizes include seam allowance, interfacing is cut to the stitching line, and pieces cut on the fold are shown opened out. Each size is the width and height of the piece as cut.
| Piece | Fabric | Cut | Size to cut | How |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book-cover wrap | Main fabric | 1 | 44.3 × 25.8 cm (≈17½ × ≈10⅛″) | Rectangle: cut by measurement or from the print |
You will also need: Thread. The cover page and materials list give the amounts for your size.
The maker’s fabric estimate at this size: Main fabric about 0.3 m of 112 cm fabric.
How it goes together
These are the maker’s own instructions at the starting size. They change with the options you pick, and the PDF carries the full set with the cover, cutting list and materials list.
- Cut the wrap on its solid outline. Its double-turn hems are already included, even if seam allowance is turned off. Transfer the tuck-flap fold lines, spine marks, and any accessory dots to the wrong side.
- Turn every raw edge of the wrap to the wrong side by 1 cm twice. Press, mitre the bulky corners, and stitch close to the inner fold.
- Fold the two ends inward on their marked lines, wrong sides together, making tuck flaps 5.5 cm deep. Press and pin them. The space between the fold lines spans both covers and the spine with ease.
- Stitch only across the top and bottom of each folded flap, 0.5 cm in from the finished edge, backstitching at the inner flap corners. Leave each flap's inner vertical edge open for the book covers to slide into.
- Slide the book's front and back covers under the two tuck flaps. Check that the spine can open flat without pulling and that the cover can close without buckling. Reduce or increase the ease for a different book before cutting a final fabric.
Fabric suggestions
Outer: Quilting cotton, linen, light canvas or another stable woven fabric.
Lining: This cover uses a single fabric layer with turned hems and tuck flaps.
Interfacing, padding or other layers: Light fusible interfacing can make a soft cotton cover crisper, but test the fold thickness first.
How each fabric family suits it
- Stable woven: great choice. Folds and presses accurately around the book.
- Heavy or stiff: possible, with care. Thick layers at the folded flap corners can be hard to stitch. Use a lighter cloth for small books.
- Stretchy knit: not recommended. The cover can bag out around the spine and slip from the book.
- Slippery or fine: possible, with care. Baste the folds and check the fit before stitching the flap edges.
The maker’s advice adjusts to the fabric family you pick in the Fabric tab.
Printing it
At the starting size the printed pieces take 3 A4 pages, taped together using the page labels, alignment marks and page map. For a print shop, choose a sheet from A0 to a 36″ roll: the pieces are packed onto as few sheets as they will fit on, and if one is too big for the sheet the maker says so. Every piece here is a rectangle or a strip, so the cutting list above is enough and you can skip printing. How printing, tiling and the test square work.
Frequently asked questions
What size can I make?
The fabric book cover pattern takes closed cover width from 8–26 cm (3⅛–10¼″); book height from 12–36 cm (4¾–14⅛″); spine width from 0.5–8 cm (¼–3⅛″). It starts at Closed cover width 13 cm (5⅛″), Book height 20 cm (7⅞″), Spine width 2.5 cm (1″), and you can work in centimetres, millimetres or inches. There are 3 starting points to begin from (Paperback cover, Journal cover, Large hardback cover). Every starting point stays fully editable.
Which fabric suits the fabric book cover pattern?
Quilting cotton, linen, light canvas or another stable woven fabric. In the maker’s fabric advice, stable woven is a great choice; heavy or stiff and slippery or fine are possible with care; stretchy knit is not recommended.