Materials: soft cardboard, fabric, paper for pages, paper for inside cover, scissors, ruler, glue, sewing machine or needle and thread, a folding tool like this bone folder (my most favorite tool of all time).

For my cardboard I used something that had come in the mail, but feel free to use anything that will offer some stiffness and pliability.  I laid it out on the fabric and cut a 3/4″ border.  Set it aside and on to the white pages.

I cut the pages to leave about a 1/4″ reveal.  Then set those aside.

Spread glue over all of cardboard and then place in center of fabric.

Once attached it may curl a bit, that’s ok.

Fold the corners in, make right angles as pictured.

Apply glue to side of cardboard and turn up fabric.

Make the corners like you would a quilt.

All four corners turned in.

Cut the inside paper to leave a 1/4″ or so reveal.

Once it has been cut use a folding tool to make a perfect crease.

Do the same to the cover, so as to find the center.

Now cut on the center fold of the inside paper.  (The reason I’ve done this is to keep the paper from warping as you open and close the notebook.)

Glue down each side separately leaving a little bit of space between each side.

I folded the inside pages & clipped them together folded to cut the ends so they will be even.

Place the inside pages appropriately centered and then clip one side at a time.  Make any necessary adjustments, just make sure the centers line up.

Now stitch right down the middle.  I used 6 pages of white paper and my machine didn’t seem to have a hard time.  But I would recomment using a heavy duty needle and then loosen the tension setting.  I have my quilting foot attached and I think it helped keep everything moving along smoothly.

I used purple thread because that’s my prerogative.  (And I like the contrast.)

Voila!  You’re done.  I have found that it helps if you put a few books on top of it over night.  It lays down nicely the next day.  You can use paper instead of fabric, hand tie instead of a sewing maching, add buttons, words, any other embellishments you can think of.  I think these are just a nice size to fit in your purse to jot down the plot to the next great american novel or your new favorite word.