Using Quilted Material Scraps for Making Educational Toys

One of the best educational toys for toddlers and babies are quilted fabric books. Their soft fabrics make them intriguing for children, who enjoy carrying them around. The colorful pages are pleasing to their eyes, which can keep their attention for a while. Reading to your children is fundamental for stimulating their minds. It’s also an excellent way to help them form words, while spending quality time with them. But, you don’t have to buy them from bookstores. You can create your own DIY quilted fabric books using scraps of material.

Instructions for DIY Quilted Fabric Books

1. Select the story you’d like to tell. Then, illustrate it using drawings in full color. You can also use an outline form if your plan is to create the details with embroidery or fabric paints. Books with 4-8 pages, including front a back covers, are best for toddlers and babies.
2. Make copies of your illustrations on a full-color laser printer or copier, using transfer paper. You can also copy them using all black ink if your plan to add your own color details. Use the reverse printing feature. Lay your transfers out, placing them in order. Your front cover should be placed back side against the back side of page one. Next to that will be right side of page one, followed by right side of page two, etc… Use paperclips to keep the pages in order for now.
3. Measure your fabric panels. When cutting, they should be at least 2-inches wide, with 1-inch margins in between the panels, as well as around the perimeters.
4. Paperclip your panels to the transfer pages. Place a stick pin on the left outside and the right margins. Then, lay it flat and turn the pages to ensure that the pages all fit together properly.
5. Use a hot iron to affix your laser prints onto the panels. Be sure to check your transfers before you peel them, by simple peeling one corner very slowly. Re-iron them as needed. After peeling them, embroider or paint them, if your design calls for that.
6. Pin your first page to the front cover. Add an interfacing layer if you want to a little bulkiness. Stitch them together by sewing them, starting 1-inch from the bottom right center-fold area. Use seams of 3/4-inches around all three perimeters to a point that’s about 1-inch to the bottom left of the center-fold. This will leave you with a 2-inch opening that’s used for turning the pages.
7. Insert your inner pages, making sure their in the correct order. Fold the inner seams inside the center-fold area, pinning them down. Stitch them along the center edges down the center-fold section. Repeat steps six and seven for all inner pages, and the back cover, in order.
8. Stitch the two covers pages to each other, through the inner pages. Sew them vertically, down the center-fold, 1/2-inch into the center-fold section. And, your quilted fabric book is complete.