Felt book tote with bookmark

Summer is the time for lazy days relaxing on the beach or by a pool.  Most people, like me, like to take some reading material with them.  Actually I take my reading material with me at all times.  I have books on my iphone, ipad and kindle.  Taking those things to the beach, though, is not something I like to do.  Sand and water is not exactly good for electronics.  So I go back to bringing a good old page-turner—a real book.  This easy, no sew, book carrier has a bookmark built right in so you will never lose your place.  My book, is 5" x 8" one of the larger paperback that are so popular today.  I used glue throughout because sometimes I just don’t feel like lugging my heavy sewing machine out, but if you want you may sew instead of glue.

You will need:

One embossed felt rectangle 12” x 9”

One contrasting color regular felt rectangle 12” x 9”

Scrap of embossed felt for closure tab

18” of thin ribbon (1/8” or ¼”)

Two sticky back felt heart shapes

1 ½” Velcro

Tacky Craft Glue (I used Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky glue)

Ruler

Pencil (To make marks on a dark felt you may use a white colored pencil)

1.     From the non-embossed felt, cut two 3 ½” x 9” pieces (sides) and one 2” x 9” piece. (Spine)  From a scrap of embossed felt cut a 2” x 4” piece for the closure tab.

2.     Lay the embossed felt with embossed side down and using the tacky glue attach the side pocket piece to the left side of the felt, only gluing the top, bottom and the outside edge.  Working on the opposite side Measure down to find the center and glue the closure tab piece.  Glue the other side pocket piece over the closure tab making sure you only add glue to the top, bottom and outside edge.

How it looks from the outside

3.     Cut an 18” piece of thin ribbon and at one end sandwich the two hearts.  This will be your bookmarker.

4.     Measure and mark a line to represent the center of your rectangle.  Starting at the bottom edge of the center line, run a bead of glue up to the top edge.  Attach the ribbon starting at the bottom and continuing up to the top edge.  The heart end will be at the top.  Liberally add some glue to the felt spine piece and attach over the ribbon making sure it is dead center.  Let dry.

Glue spine over ribbon in center

5.     Use the tacky glue to attach small piece of Velcro to the closure tab and the front of the book cover.  Let dry.

6.     Insert book covers in the flaps and use the heart ribbon as your bookmark.

Chenille Kraft One Pound Felt Sheets - Art Supplies & Accessories