Embroidery Library - Machine Embroidery Designs Inspired Project Page

Cozy-Up E-reader Cover

Keep your Kindle, Nook, or other e-reader safe and scratch-free with this handy (and oh-so-stylish) e-reader cover.

The front flap is reinforced with sturdy cardboard and opens to reveal two convenient pockets, and elastic to hold your e-reader snugly in place. When you're all done reading, the cover is held shut with a snap closure.

Select your favorite fabrics and literary embroidery designs and get started today. Read below for free project instructions!

Supplies Needed:

**Total of 3/4 yard sturdy print
   fabric (like denim, twill, or
   lightweight canvas) -- two
   different prints, 3/8 yard each
   for the outer cover and
   pockets (we used lightweight
   canvas)

**3/8 yard sturdy solid-colored
   fabric (like denim, twill, or
   lightweight canvas) for the
   inner cover (we used
   lightweight canvas)

**Medium-weight cutaway
stabilizer

**Temporary spray adhesive

**Air-erase pen (or other marking
tool)

Supplies Continued:

**20 inch length of 1 1/4 inch wide knit elastic

**Old three-ring binder (for cardboard linings), or two sturdy pieces of cardboard

**Extra-loft batting

**Snap and snap tool

**Craft knife and cutting pad

**Masking tape

**Needle and thread for some hand sewing

Designs used:
Cameo
Feather

Embroidery Library has lots of great designs to show your love of literature on your new e-reader cover. Here are a few that we suggest: Classic Author Cameos, Cats of Shakes-purr, Lost in Literature phrases and sayings, Art Nouveau Reading Fairies, and animals Wild about Reading.

We'll start by measuring the height, width, and thickness of the e-reader. We are custom fitting our cover to fit the Nook Color. Ours measures 8.1 inches high by 5 inches wide by 1/2 inch thick. If you do not have the e-reader to measure, here is a list of sizes of some current e-readers on the market:

Nook - 7.7" x 4.9" x 0.50"
Nook Color - 8.1" x 5.0" x 0.50"
Kindle 1 (original) - 6.5″ x 4.5" x 0.34"
Kindle 2 - 8.0″ x 5.3″ x 0.8"
Kindle 3 (3G/Wi-Fi) - 6.8″ x 4.7″ x .40"
Kindle 3G Keyboard - 7.5″ x 4.8″ x .34"
Kindle DX - 10.4″ x 7.2″ x 0.38"
Kindle Fire - 7.5″ x 4.7″ x .45"
Kindle 4 - 6.5" x 4.5" x .375"
Kindle Paperwhite - 6.7" x 4.6" x .36"
iPad (first generation) - 9.56" x 7.47" x 0.5"
iPad 2 - 9.5" x 7.31" x 0.34"
iPad (3) - 10" x 8" x .5"
iPad Mini - 8" x 5.5" x .375"
Kobo - 7.2″ x 4.7″ x 0.4"
Sony Reader Pocket Edition (PRS-300) - 6.25" x 4.25" x 0.4"
Sony Reader Touch Edition (PRS-600) - 6.9" x 4.8" x 0.4"
Sony Reader Daily Edition (PRS-900) - 8.12" x 5.0" x 0.6"
Sony Reader Wi-Fi - 6.87" x 4.37" x .37"
Cybook Opus - 6.0" x 4.2" x 0.4"
Cybook Gen 3 - 7.4" x 4.7" x 0.3"
Motorola Xoom - 9.8" x 6.6" x 0.5"
Pandigital Novel - 7.5" x 5.5" x 0.5"
Samsung Galaxy Tab - 7.48" x 4.74" x 0.47"
Shift3 Lookbook Wireless Reader - 9.0" x 5.0" x 0.5"
Sharper Image Literati Wireless Reader - 9.5" x 5.0" x 0.5"

If you're e-reader is not listed above, send an email to stitch@emblibrary.com with the dimensions and we will add it to the list.

To prepare the fabric for the front of the outer cover, take your height and width measurements and add 1 1/2 inch to each for allowances (ours measures 8 inches high by 5 inches wide, so our final front outer cover measurements are 9 1/2 inches high by 6 1/2 inches wide). Using these dimensions, draw a rectangle on the fabric - leave a couple of inches of excess fabric around the shape.

Create paper templates of the designs by printing them at full size using embroidery software. If you don't have embroidery software, you can cut a piece of paper the shape and dimensions of the design to help with placement and centering. If you'd like a recommendation for an embroidery program that can make templates, consider Embird from www.Embird.com.

Position the designs on the fabric how you want them - make sure there is at least one inch of space between the edges of the designs and the outer edges of the fabric. Using an air-erase pen (or other marking tool), poke a hole in the center of the templates and mark the fabric. Mark the horizontal and vertical axis points also.

Remove the templates and draw lines to connect the marks. These lines will be used for hooping.

Spray a piece of cutaway stabilizer with temporary adhesive and smooth the fabric on top. Hoop the fabric and stabilizer together by aligning the marks on the hoop with the lines on the fabric. Attach the hoop to the machine and load the first design. Move the hoop so that the needle is directly over the center point on the fabric and embroider the design.

Repeat the hooping and embroidering process for the other design.

When the designs have finished, cut out the shape.

Measure and mark the center of the right side of the fabric by dividing by two. Then, measure and mark in one inch at the center point. Using a snap tool, add the bottom portion of a snap at this mark.

Trim away the excess stabilizer on the back of the embroidery and the snap.

To prepare the fabric for the spine of the cover, take the thickness measurement and add 1/2 inch for allowances (ours measured 1/2 inch, so 1/2 inch plus 1/2 inch equals 1 inch). This is the width measurement of the spine fabric. Cut a piece of fabric using this measurement and the final height measurement you used for the front cover fabric (ours is 1 inch wide by 9 1/2 inches high). Then, align the spine fabric along the left side of the embroidered front cover fabric with right sides facing. Pin in place, sew a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edge only, and then press the seam with an iron.

To prepare the fabric for the back of the outer cover, cut a piece of fabric to the same dimensions you used for the front cover fabric (ours is 9 1/2 inches high by 6 1/2 inches wide). Align the back fabric with the spine fabric, right sides facing, pin in place, and sew a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edge only. Press with an iron, then top stitch a 1/8 inch seam along the inside of each spine seam.

Next, we will prepare the fabric for the inner pockets. For the large inner pocket, cut a piece of fabric 6 inches wide by your final height measurement (we cut ours 6 inches wide by 9 1/2 inches high). Fold one of the long sides over 1/2 inch and press. Fold the fabric over another 1/2 inch and press. Sew a seam along the inner edge of the fold.

For the small inner pocket, cut a piece of fabric 5 inches wide by your final height measurement (we cut ours 5 inches wide by 9 1/2 inches high). Fold, press, and sew a seam along the inner edge of the folds just as you did with the large pocket. Then, align the small pocket on top of the large pocket, right sides facing up, with the raw long edges aligned. Pin in place and measure and mark the center of each side by and dividing by two. Draw a line connecting the marks on the small pocket fabric. Sew a seam along the line to create two compartments on the small pocket.

To prepare the fabric for the left side of the inner cover, cut a piece of fabric using your final height and width measurements (ours is 9 1/2 inches high by 6 1/2 inches wide). Align the assembled pockets on the left edge of the inner cover fabric, pin in place, and sew a 1/8 inch seam along the outer edges of the pockets to tack them in place.

To prepare the fabric for the spine of the inner cover, cut another piece of fabric to the same dimensions you did for the outer cover (ours is 1 inch wide by 9 1/2 inches high). Align the spine fabric with the right edge of the left inner cover, with right sides facing, pin in place and sew a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edge only. Press the seam with an iron.

To prepare the fabric for the right side of the inner cover, cut a piece of fabric using your final height and width measurements (ours is 9 1/2 inches high by 6 1/2 inches wide). Cut four 5 inch lengths of 1 1/4 inch wide knit elastic. Lay the elastic diagonally across the fabric at each corner leaving about one inch of fabric at the corner (measure diagonally from the corner to the elastic). Pin the elastic in the center to hold it in place, then, gently pull the elastic at each end and pin in place. This creates a bit of tension in the elastic which will hold the e-reader securely in place. Doing this will cause the fabric to pucker a bit, this is ok. Be sure to smooth the fabric flat later on when pinning it to the other layers.

Tack the elastic in place at each end with a 1/8 inch seam. Trim off the excess elastic leaving about 1/4 inch at each seam.

Align the left side/spine section with the left edge of the right side/elastic inner cover piece. Pin in place, and sew a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edge only. Press the back seam towards the center of the spine fabric and top stitch along each seam of the spine.

To prepare the fabric for the snap strap, cut a piece of fabric 3 1/2 inches wide by 3 inches high. Fold the long edges in 1/2 inch to the wrong side and press. Then, fold in one of the short edges 1/2 inch to the wrong side and press.

Bring the long folded edges together and press. Sew a 1/4 inch seam along the folded edges.

Add the outer "button" section of the snap about 1/2 inch from the short folded end of the strap.

Align the assembled outer cover on top of the assembled inner cover with right sides facing. The embroidered outer front cover should be aligned with the left pocket side of the inner cover.

Measure and mark the center of the right side of the inner cover and pin the strap at the mark, with the strap facing to the inside of the fabric and the "button" side of the snap facing up. Leave about 1/4 inch of the raw end of the strap extending out past the edge of the fabric.

Pin all the layers in place and sew a 1/4 inch seam along the side and top edges only - leave the entire bottom edge open for turning.

Turn the fabric right side out and press the seams. Sew a seam along the outer edges of the spine starting at the top edge of the cover and ending about one inch from the bottom edge.

To prepare the inner cardboard linings, take your final measurements and subtract 1 inch from both dimensions (ours is 9 1/2 inches high by 6 1/2 inches wide so, subtracting 1 inch from both dimensions is 8 1/2 inches high by 5 1/2 inches high). Take your cardboard pieces or remove the inner cardboard from a three-ring binder (cut it open along one side with a craft knife or scissors and slide the cardboard out) and cut two pieces using the dimensions you just calculated. Spray the pieces of cardboard with temporary adhesive, smooth extra-loft batting on top, and trim off the excess.

To finish off the edges, wrap strips of masking tape around each side of the cardboard pieces.

Insert the cardboard in between the layers of fabric at the bottom of the cover with the batting side facing up. Then, fold the fabric of the opening in 1/4 inch and hand sew the opening closed with needle and thread.

Your cover is now complete!

Cozy-up with a good e-book and read in style.

Looking for another great e-reader cover idea? Visit Urban Threads, an embroidery site created by Embroidery Library artist Niamh, to create a hip
e-reader cover like the one shown on the left.

Click here for a printable version of these project instructions.

You'll need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you don't have it, you can download a free copy by clicking on the icon above.