EReader Cover

Last weekend I got a new toy a new gadget for work - a Sony ereader.

I have to say this is a very cool toy helpful device for work. Unfortunately, for the $229 you pay, you do not get a cover. There is also a stylus included, but no way of attaching it to the device. I umm-ed and aah-ed over the cases available, before deciding that I might be able to do something at home to keep my reader safe in the depths of my handbag.

So, cos I have to have something to blog, I took photos of the way I made my ereader cover.


Step 1: Find an old book that is bigger than your ereader. I started with an old diary I'd found the day before in my decluttering. I have no idea why we had an unused 2004 diary on the bookshelf.

 

2. Carefully cut out the pages by slicing through the inner cover paper with a craft knife -

3. Lay the book cover on your chosen fabric (or decorative paper) and cut around, leaving enough to fold over. My allowances were 5cm on each side and 2.5cm on top and bottom edges because I was working with a remnant.  Make small marks to make it easier to line your cover up on later.

4. Spread glue over the front cover and line up on fabric. Flatten the fabric out carefully - because my fabric was a heavy woven, it didn't need much smoothing.
Then I used a double-sided tape on the spine, rolled the book over to make sure there was enough ease in the fabric, and glued the back cover on the same way as the front.
My cover flattened out well, so I moved onto the inside. Otherwise I would have moved to the weighting down stage until the glue dried on the cover.


5. Glue the overlaps up to the inside (the same way you have to cover all those schoolbooks every year). As you can see, I was still considering leaving the ribbon bookmark as a quirky feature, but I later changed my mind.
I used a bit of fraystop on the corners.

Then I left my cover to flatten overnight under some heavy books. I offer no excuses for the fact that the closest books to hand were mainly chocolate cookbooks. :) These were removed the next morning to let it dry better.

6. Once the cover had dried, I taped the spine for reinforcement. Then I cut a strip of fabric to cover the inside of the spine and glued this strip into place.

7. Before I glued the strip in, I used one of the cut pages and folded up edges until I'd decided on the size to cut the foam for the inside padding.

 

I cut out 2 pieces of craft foam and a piece of backing cardboard for the inside back cover. My thinking was that the cardboard would provide just a little extra strength to the piece supporting the reader with the elastic.


8. I covered one piece of foam with fabric for the inside front cover

and glued into place inside the front cover

Sorry, in my excitement to finish I forgot to take any photos for the next bit, but it's fairly self-explanatory.

9. I glued the card and foam together and covered it with fabric for the inside back cover block. Then I played around with elastic placement to hold the reader in place. When I was happy with it, I glued the elastic to the back of the 'block'. I added some stitching (yes, Judy, some sewing!!) to stop the reader sliding down too far.
My elastic placement is actually a bit lopsided because I wanted to have some room to one side for the stylus to be held. I stitched the elastic on the side to make it tighter for the stylus.

Then I glued the block into the inside back cover and weighted it down for an hour.

And ta-dah - my ereader cover

Unlike my friend J, who is the Glue Queen, my technique lacked a bit of finesse, but it worked and I saved myself quite a bit of money.

Word of warning though if you decide to try to make one too - let the glue dry on the back block for a day before you try the reader out or the glue pulls up a bit.
You can guess how I found that one out. :)

So, I made something and it even involved a teeny bit of sewing, lol.

Now to get back to those granny squares...