The Experimental Crafter: ICC#35- Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

This week's Iron Craft Challenge was to create something using a book. I struggled with this all week and then had a burst of inspiration on Monday night. I always carry a book with me in my purse. I had also seen many purses made from book covers. So I thought, why not make a purse from a book, but leave the book? And that's what I did. It's a Book Clutch!

I spent about 30 minutes at the thrift store trying to find the right book for this. I finally found a copy of Anne of Green Gables that included three of the books from the series. I felt alright cutting out the last book because 1.) I have the entire series already and 2.) It was out of order- they included Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne's House of Dreams. Come on now.

I started by cutting out a section of the back part of the book. Think of it like making a book safe, but with only a third of the book.

Next, I covered this section with fabric. I just mod podged it in there. I used green fabric because green is my favorite color and it is Anne of GREEN Gables, but in the future I would choose a lighter shade; the green stood out too much.

During this whole time, it felt like a big, ugly mess. You just have to push through it. Keep trimming and gluing and you can do it.

Next, I drilled a hole in the front and back cover and attached ribbon and a button. This created the closing mechanism.

I put in a little wallet, but you can do whatever you like. I think in the future it would be neat to sew little matching pockets and make the whole thing look prettier. It's a bit messy as is the case with first tries :)