A February Full of Hearts – A Little Heart Book

Today’s Heart filled post is a history inspired project, a little heart shaped book. This sweet book can be made using techniques from Fanciful Utility, with paper pages inside instead of wool.

To make this book, you will need pasteboard, outer fabric, inner fabric, and several sheets paper for pages.

Start by cutting a heart shape you like. This can be a fat heart, a lean heart, even and asymmetrical heart. Just be sure one side is flat enough to become the spine. This will become your template for cutting. You may find it helpful to mark which side or spot is your spine.

Using your template, cut 4 pieces of pasteboard the size of your template. Cut 2 exterior fabric hearts and 2 interior fabric hearts, adding a generous 1/2″ seam allowance. Using your favorite FanU technique, cover two with your outer fabric and two with your inner fabric. Whip stitch the cover layers together.

Fold your sheets of paper in half. Do this individually or in pairs rather than as one stack. Place your template with the spine along the fold. Trace your template and cut. Double check that your placement and pages are as you expect. If so, trace and cut the rest of your pages.

Open each pair of pages and stack them. With a strong needle, pierce at least 3 holes in the fold. Try to make them equidistant with the middle one centered on the spin. Refold the pages in pairs of triples. For each grouping, sew through the holes. Stack your folded pages on top of each other with the folds and holes lined up. Sew through the threads snugging the pages together. I recommend watching a video or two on simple booklet binding for this as I know my description is clear as mud.