Floss Book Tutorial
Guest Blogger: Anne Boundy https://saidwithlove.com.au
Every week, through the Bee Sew Inspired - Organize-Along, we are hosting guest bloggers! These amazing creatives are sharing with you, a fun and simple tutorial that you can make, to help organize something in your creative space!
Join me and welcoming today's guest blogger Anne Boundy from Said With Love in celebration of the Bee Sew Inspired - Organize-Along!
You can learn more about Anne at the following links:
Website: https://saidwithlove.com.au
Instagram: @said_with_love
YouTube: https://youtu.be/QCs4CHGTuJM
Hi everyone, I am Anne Boundy of Said With Love and I am a pattern designer, quilt maker, longarm quilter and owner of an online fabric store in Australia! Jennifer from Bee Sew Inspired and Riley Blake Designs have asked me to be a guest blogger for the first week of this year’s Organise Along!
GETTING UNTANGLED is the topic for this first week and we are looking at our threads… be they sewing threads, yarn, quilting threads or embroidery stitchery threads!
So, lets get UNTANGLED!
I have LOTS of threads…. my Aurifil Thread collection in my craft room is stored in a gorgeous, old, printer tray that I have hung on the wall! And of course I have put it in sort of rainbow colour!
My quilting threads are stored away in drawers to keep them dust free and in good
condition when I need them for a customer quilt… so no cute picture of them sorry!
However, my embroidery thread storage is just abysmal! A drawer that is just jammed full
with thread! New, used, half used, some on needles, all in a jumble and I can never find
anything… Ugh… Definitely in need of some ORGANISING! It is no wonder that I never want
to do any embroidery… this drawer just makes me go UGH and walk away!
I wanted something that would organise my threads by colour, as that is how I select things,
and keep them all neat and tidy. And maybe something that would allow me to keep half
used thread lengths that are already on a needle…. because I HATE threading needles!
And maybe something that I could take with me, have sitting by the couch or take on
holidays.
So, voila…. the Floss Book idea was born!
A ‘book’… with pages for each of the main colours of threads I need to store.
Each ‘page’ has a mesh pocket to hold the threads and a felt needle section to hold any ‘in
progress’ needles with thread!
If you would like to make one of your own Floss Books, here is how to make one.
What You Need:
6 pieces Soft N Stable 8” x 10” (A)
1 piece Soft N Stable 10” x 16” (B)
6 pieces low volume fabrics 8” x 10” (C)
6 pieces mesh 6.5” square (D)
6 pieces coloured fabric for the mesh binding 1.5” x 6.5” (E)
6 pieces coloured fabric for the back of the pages 6.5” x 8.5” (F)
6 pieces of felt in coordinating colours 4” x 2.5” (G)
5 pieces of small fussy cut motifs approximately 2.5” square (H)
1 piece fabric for outer cover 10” x 16” (J)
1 piece thin elastic (like a hair tie) no longer than 5” (K)
1 piece fabric for inside lining of cover. Do not cut this until you need it as your size may differ. 9” x 15” (L)
2 pieces of low volume fabric for center spine sashing 1.5” x 8.5” (M)
2 pieces of low volume fabric for middle page spine sashing 2” x 8.5” (N)
2 pieces of low volume fabric for outer page spine sashing 2.5” x 8.5” (O)
A jeans needle can be useful near the end when sewing your book pages into the cover.
Let's Get Started:
The Front of the Page
Place a low volume (C) fabric right side up on top of an A piece of Soft N Stable.
Quilt as you would like. I quilted with 1/2” straight lines. A walking foot on your machine makes this easier.
Trim to 6.5” x 8.5” rectangle
Take the mesh binding fabric and fold in half lengthwise. Open up and fold the long edge into the center fold on both sides. Press. Fold in half again and press.
Place the top of the mesh between the binding edges and pin/clip. Sew about 1/8” in from the edge so as to catch both sides of the binding to the top of the mesh.
Place the mesh pocket on the low volume fabric side of your page, aligning the bottom edges. Sew around the edges of the mesh pocket 1/8” in from the raw edge.
The Back of the Page
Take an F piece of coloured fabric and place the coordinating G piece of felt 3/4” in from the top of the fabric and centered. Sew 1/8” in from the edge in a coordinating thread all the way around the felt. Repeat for all F and G pieces.
Fold the edges of your H fussy cut motifs in about 1/4” all the way around and press well. You can even put some fabric glue to ensure the folded edges stay.
Place it centered underneath the felt and centered between the bottom of the felt and the bottom of the fabric.
You can needle turn applique or machine sew 1/8” around the edges in a coordinating thread.
Putting the Front and Back Together
As these are pages of a book, we want the matching coloured back of the page to be next to the same coloured front of the page when the book is open.
So we DO NOT put the same coloured back onto that coloured front.
Instead, layout your pages in the order you would like them to be in your book and ensure that the matching back of the page is just before it.
In my book I had the blue page at the front and the green is my second page. So the coloured green fabric with the green felt is on the BACK of the blue mesh pocket.
Place the quilted mesh pocket face up on the table. Put the coloured fabric with felt face down on top. Use clips to keep them together. Leaving a gap of at least 2” on the left hand side. Sew all the way around with a 1/4” seam.
Trim the corners of excess fabric and soft and stable and turn your page out the right way. Pushing out the corners well. Press.
Press the fabric and soft n stable of the opening gap well and use clips to hold the gap closed as you top stitch all around your page 1/8” in from the edge. This closes the gap.
Your first page is done!
And this is the mesh pocket of page 2
Repeat for the other pages
Make the Cover
Take your B piece of soft n stable and your J piece of fabric for the outer cover of your Floss book and quilt as desired. I free motion quilted mine to follow the clamshells on Quiet Play’s Dream fabric.
Before we trim the cover, now is a good time to measure your pages (mine were about 6” x 8”) and how high it is when they are stacked on top of each other (mine was about 1.5” high)
I cut my cover to 9” high and 14.5” wide. This was *just* enough…. You could easily make that 9” high and 15” wide.
Do a test wrap of your book cover around your pages to ensure that you don’t cut your cover too small.
Cut your L piece of inside cover lining to the same size you have cut your outer cover. 9” x 15”.
I didn’t put any embellishments on my internal cover of my Floss Book, but if you wanted to fussy cut some more motifs, this would be a lovely spot to put them. Or a label with your name on it in case you misplace it at a sew day!
Place your outside cover face up on the table. Place your L inside cover fabric face down on top. Clip or pin around, leaving at least a 2” gap on the bottom left so that we can turn the cover correct side out.
In the middle on the left hand side, place your K elastic folded in half with the fold inside and the two raw edges level with the raw edges of the cover. Pin in place.
Sew 1/4” all the way around leaving the gap on the bottom left. Back stitch either side of the gap.
Trim the corners. Turn correct way out. Press well. Fold the gap fabric and soft n stable inside and press well and clip.
Top stitch 1/8” all the way around your cover to close the gap.
Putting Our Pages Together
We will put some sashing between the pages so we can sew them to the cover. We will be sewing the ‘open spread’ pages together like this.
Put your pages together as you want them to be in your Floss Book, then open your ‘book’ at the middle page (that will be pages 3 and 4) and put these two pages open on your table.
Take the next two pages (page 2 and 5) and put them elsewhere on your table open side by side.
Put page 1 and 6 open on your table.
We will start with the center pages 3 and 4.
Cut two M pieces of fabric 1.5” x 8.5” in a coordinating low volume. I cut one to match the page 4 low volume fabric, the other to match the page 3 low volume. But you could use the same low volume fabric on all spine sashing as it doesn’t show much once all sewn in the book spine.
Fold short ends in 1/4” each. The length should be just short of the length of your page. Press well. Fold one long edge over 1/4” and press well. Using some fabric glue to ensure the fold stays down can be helpful.
Place one of the sashing strips right side up on the table. Place page 3 on top aligning the raw edge of the sashing to the right side of the page (where the middle of the book is)
Place the other sashing strip right side down on the right side. Clip or pin in place.
Sew 1/4” from top to bottom of the strip. A locking stitch or some reverse stitching at the top and bottom will ensure it is well fixed.
Press the strips away from the page.
Place page 4 between the two folded edges of the strips 1/4” in. Clip or pin. Top stitch 1/8” away from the folded edge.
Also top stitch 1/8” away from the other side of the sashing to make it look consistent. The back side of the sashing should be just as neat as the front!
You now have one center spread of pages 3 and 4.
We will repeat this with pages 2 and 5 with the N sashing strips that are 2” wide.
Finally repeating with page 1 and 6 using the O sashing strips that are 2.5” wide.
Put a coordinating thread into your bobbin that matches your outer cover. Your top thread should match the sashing fabric you have used.
Attaching the pages into your Floss Book
Take your pages 1 and 6 and center them on the inside of your cover
Put a jeans needle into your sewing machine now.
With a walking foot sew from top to bottom of your sashing at least three times to secure your pages to the cover. The thread will show on your Floss Book spine so try and coordinate that thread or make it a statement!
Then place your pages 2 and 5 and center them on the inside of your page 1 and 6.
If your walking foot will fit in the sashing space, use it to sew at few times from top to bottom to secure these pages into your book. If your walking foot doesn’t fit, use any foot that will and you may need to go slowly and ensure your Floss Book is moving through your machine.
Repeat with pages 3 and 4. Pressing down on your pages will hopefully squash the soft n stable and fabric down enough so that your machine, with a jeans needle in, can sew through the bulk. Thankfully my Janome 9400 worked well!
Your pages are now in your Floss Book!
There is just a button to hand sew onto the front where the elastic can go around it to keep your book closed.
And of course, to fill it up with your embroidery threads!
Floss Book Video Tutorial:
Do you want to sew along with Anne and make your own Floss Book to organize your threads? Watch Anne's video tutorial on her YouTube channel HERE.
More Inspiration:
Read this week's Blog post about Organizing your threads and "Getting Untangled" HERE.
Watch this week's Organize Along YouTube video HERE.
Join us EVERY WEEK this summer, for inspiration and free tutorials, to help you organize your creative space! Remember to sign up for the Bee Sew Inspired Newsletter HERE, to make sure you don't miss any great inspiration.
2022 Guest Bloggers:
July 15: Julia Frazier www.bayhillstudio.com
July 22: Jennifer Long www.beesewinspired.com
July 29: Holly Clarke https://hollyclarkedesign.com
August 5: Bev McCullough https://flamingotoes.com
August 12: Lindsay Chieco https://www.instagram.com/linzentart/
August 19: Vickie Zaleski www.crochetingvixen.wordpress.com
August 26: Deb Zaleski https://www.instagram.com/sproutingjubejube/