Book Bags

These little bags are named for their construction material, not what they carry. They’re a great way to recycle old hardcover books.

You will need:

• Hardcover book
• 1 yard of material
• Hot glue gun
• Bag handles
• Ribbon
• A large button
• Cardboard

Start by cutting the pages out of an old hardcover book. Cut a piece of cardboard, the width of the book’s spine, and hot glue it to the inside of the spine. Lay the book out flat, with the inside facing up. Measure and cut a piece of cloth that will cover the entire book. Set aside.

Cut four pieces of ribbon that are twice as long as the book’s front cover width. Loop these pieces of ribbon through the bag handles (for extra stability, you can sew the two sides of the halved ribbon together.) Hot glue the four ribbons to the front and back cover of the bag, allow enough ribbon so the handles do not quite touch the bag.

Cut a piece of ribbon a little larger than the circumference of your button. Form a loop and hot glue this the center of the edge of the back cover. Run a piece of ribbon through the holes in the button and hot glue the ribbon ends to the center of the edge of the front cover. This will form a button and loop closure for the bag.

Cut two pieces of triangular-shaped material. The tip of the triangle, should be as wide as the spine of the book, the bottom of the triangle should be several inches wider than the spine. Make the triangle half an inch taller than the book. Glue a triangular piece to each side of the bag, attaching the cloth to the spine, front and back covers of the book.




Take the piece of material that was cut to the size of the book. Glue the material to the book, covering all the ribbons. Make sure this is securely glued.



When the glue is dry, the bag is ready to be used. If you want to get really fancy, you can cut a few rectangles of the same material, and glue them to the inside of the bag to make pockets. Once you get the hang of these, they are really fun to make.