Homemade Cookbook

When my husband and I were first married, I scrapbooked a lot.  So when I started accumulated a lot of recipes, I thought it'd be a neat project to make a scrapbook/cookbook.  At the time, I had never heard of anyone making one of these, so I was pretty proud of my unique project idea.  I see them more and more in scrapbook stores nowadays, but I promise, I thought of it first : P   Well anyways, after 5 years of marriage, the scrapbook has became fairly thick.  It's filled with recipes from blogs, neighbors, friends, family members, magazines, etc. In the beginning I used a binder with the plastic slip-in cover so I could slide in a pretty cover.  But I got bored last night and decided to sew up a new cover.  I attempted a tutorial of this project, but I'm not a very experienced seamstress and I'm not so good at tutorials, so forgive me if this isn't the greatest tutorial ever.  I did my best.  The cookbook isn't completely finished, however.  I'd like to add some embroidery to the side and perhaps a button clasp.  The pocket shown on the front is not actually sewn on yet, in case I decide to have it embroidered.  If you want a pocket on yours, make sure you sew it on before step 5.

 Supplies needed: At least 2 colors of fabric about a yard total should do.  You'll also need a binder.  Buttons and ribbons are optional. 

 

For the first step, lay your fabric out flat and place your binder on top.

 Leaving about an inch of edging, cut around the binder

 Now fold that edge inward, meeting at the binder edge and pin them in place.

  

Sew the trim down all the way around. (If you want a pocket or ribbons or buttons on the cover, do this before moving on to the next step.)

 Lay the fabric down again (facing up) and place the binder back on top.  Cut your second color of fabric  to match the size of one side of the binder, leaving about an inch and a half of space from the center like shown above.  Face the material down (like I've shown you above) and fold the edge over, pin and sew down.

 Pin the edges of the top and bottom together.   Slide the binder out and sew the edges together. 

 Repeat on the other side and flip the fabric inside out.  Slide your binder back in and tada!

 

Here's the inside of my cookbook.  To keep it personal, it includes photos of family members baking cookies...I'll go into more details about the contents of my cookbook on another day.