Crafting with old books is a bit of a touchy subject. Why cut up a perfectly good book just because you have a project idea or it happens to have a rockin’ cover? That makes perfect sense to me. Still, sometimes we end up with books that are too damaged to read, and at that point why not turn it into something new and useful, right? Over at Curbly.com, Chrisjob has a tutorial for turning a book into a super sweet purse! Check it: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/m4RFH0q0Osk&hl=en_US&fs=1&] For more deets and photos of Chris’ book purse, check out his how to over at Curbly.
Green it Up!
It would be so easy to green this project up! For the fabric, you might raid your scrap bin, hit the thrift store, or use any ecofriendly Fab Fabric. You might also use Ecoglue instead of the fabric glue, though I’d do a test run first with a tiny piece of your fabric and some scrap paper, since it looks like this project relies pretty heavily on the glue to hold things together. He calls for pre-made hard straps, but you could totally pull this off with fabric straps you made yourself! You’d just glue the unfinished ends between the inside of the book cover and your liner fabric. To make the straps, cut two strips of fabric 6″ long and 2″ wide. Fold in half longways and press, then fold in the long, unfinished edges by 1/2″ and press again. Top stitch to close everything off, press one more time, and you’re all strapped up! Want more projects for upcycling damaged books? Jamie’s got you covered with Making Old Books into New Treasures. Image Credit: Book Purse. Creative Commons photo by Topeka Library
