Today I’d like to share a beautiful surprise- Amy Powers’ Sizzix Journal Stitch Book! This girl is so talented! And I am so lucky she lives right down the road from me. We get together at our friend Pam Keravouri‘s beautiful studio (recently featured in Where Women Create!) once a month or so with other crafty friends and create.

Amy took the Journal die in a different direction and created a Stitch Book…

A Stitch Book is just like a sketch book only instead of pen and paper you use needle and thread to fill the pages! This book is a perfect place to sample new embroidery stitches, explore a design, or simply doodle with thread! A perfect take along, this project tucks nicely in your overnight bag. Just grab a needle and thread and let’s get stitching! 

Materials:

1 Large Felt Piece, 9.5″ x 15″

6 to 9 Assorted Felt Pieces, cut to 8″ x 8″

Assorted Embroidery Floss

Round Elastic for binding

Optional: Frixion by Pilot Pen

Tools: (list 1 per line)

Iron

Scissors

Needle

Instructions: 

• Embroider a design for the cover. You can sew this design directly onto the felt piece for the cover or you can opt to sew it on another fabric which you then sew to the cover. The cover design should be 4″ x 9″ and will go on the right half of the fabric, ending 2.5″ from the right.
• To create the cover, similar to a checkbook cover, fold over 2.5″ on each end of the 15″ long felt piece. Iron to crease the edge. Sew into place. I used a blanket stitch all the way around the book.
• Thread the rounded elastic through parallel center holes of the mattboard cover to create 3 elastic bands. Knot to secure.
• Insert the assembled book cover (mattboard) into the felt cover. You may need to bend the book spine backward to fit into sleeve.
• To create the inserts for the book, fold each of the 8″ x 8″ felt pieces in half, using an iron to crease. Sandwich 3 of felt pieces. Sew along the inside seam of the inner most felt piece to bind these pages. Continue with the other groups of 3 felt pieces to create as many inserts as you’d like. The book will easily accomodate 3 inserts. You can make extras to have on hand to switch out as you fill the book with stitches!
• To insert the pages, open to the center fold of each mini felt book and thread through the elastic band.
• To embroider on the pages, you can keep the pages inserted in the book, or remove them, whichever is more comfortable for you. Keep a variety of needles and embroidery floss with the book so that you are ready to stitch whenever the urge hits. If you pre-thread your needles with assortment of flosses, it’ll be even easier to pick up and stitch in your new Stitch Book.
• Tip: Draw the design you want to stitch onto the felt using a Frixion pen by Pilot. The ink in these pens disappears with heat which is handy for stitching since you can run a hot iron over the design you’ve stitched and poof! the design you drew for reference is gone!

About Amy

Like most middle children, Amy Powers learned early how to entertain herself marvelously. An active imagination decorated her world and occupied her mind. She grew up making art and telling wild stories. She still remembers precisely what it was like to be that little girl. More than a few decades later, Amy‘s still making stuff. Amy lives in the Washington, DC suburbs with her husband Rich and their adorable son Alfredo.