Fabric Covered Binder Tutorial: Featuring Wholeport Fabric, Sponsor Post

Over the smmer my daughter took a kid's cooking camp and each day she got a copy of the recipe they made and is looking forward to more kitchen adventures.  We didn't really have a place to keep the handouts she had gotten and she needed someplace to keep copies of any new recipes she makes and likes.

As you might already know, Wholeport is one of my blog's sponsors and recently I saw this super cute fabric on their site.  I knew it would be perfect for a making a recipe binder for her.  I was very excited when they sent me a complimentary sample to create with!

We started with a marked up and slightly dinged binder found in the back to school sales clearance section at the store and it was a steal at less than a dollar.  Sure it didn't look the best, but that really didn't matter because we were going to cover it right up.

We're so happy with how it turned out after we gave it new life by covering with the Wholeport fabric!

Materials:
Cotton Canvas Fabric Cloth-DIY Cloth Art Manual Cloth Smile Design 59" Wide
Binder
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Scissors
Cutting Mat

To start our simple project, I opened up the binder and laid it on top of the fabric.  The I cut around it, leaving about a 2 inch border on all sides.  A one inch border would be plenty but I wanted a little wiggle room when placing the fabric so I'd like how the fabric appeared on the front.  After cutting, iron the fabric.

Place your binder on top of the fabric and position so you like how it so you are happy with the placement of the fabric's design on the front of the cover.  When satisfied, I put a little hot glue on the front and back of the binder to hold it on place while working with fabric.

Cut a notch at the top and bottom of the spine as shown above.  Fold over at the top and hot glue into place (above).  This creates a smooth seem.  Then fold up and hot glue down underneath the metal binder.

Trim each corner as show, to cut down on bulk while folding to cover your binder.

Fold over side edge.  You can start with either the top or bottom, I just prefer to begin with the side edge.  Hot glue into place, pulling tautly as you do so.

Fold up bottom fabric and hot glue down, tucking in corner as needed.

When you are done hot gluing down each side you should have something like this.  The front is now cute but the inside is not quite there.

Cut extra fabric to cover the inside of the binder.  Hot glue into place to give it a more finished look inside the binder.  You can even use more extra fabric to make yourself a little pocket if you like.

There you have it, a cute recipe binder!  Thank you to Wholeport for sponsoring my blog and providing me with an awesome selection of crafting supplies! Check them out for all your creative needs.

This project has been shared at: Homework: Today's Assignment: Be Inspired, Sugar Bee Crafts, Kathe with an E, and The DIY Dreamer.