Scripture Cover with Divider Flap: Tutorial

I promised to post a tutorial on how I made the dividing flap on THIS scripture cover made for my son a year and a half ago.  It took a while to get to, but I finally made another one because my second son recently turned 8 and is getting baptized in a couple weeks.  Those who had questions or emailed me when I posted the scripture cover likely don’t need it anymore, but hopefully this will help anyone who has future questions concerning the flap.

The reason for the flap is because I don’t buy the quadruple combination scriptures for my kids.  Rather, I buy them THIS triple combination and THIS Bible to save a little money that way.  My kids are so hard on things so I figure we’ll get them a nicer set of scriptures when they are older.  It should probably be noted that we are LDS and so this is a scripture case that will fit all the scriptures used in the LDS church.  It can of course be adapted to fit other books that you would like a dividing flap for.

I went ahead and included a tutorial for the whole scripture case, since I did things a little differently.  The main inspiration for this scripture cover, including the fabric measurements on the main body, come from Delia Creates and her scripture cover tutorial.

Ok, let’s get started.  I’ve included many pictures but don’t let that stop you.  It’s really not hard at all.

Here’s what you’ll need.  I labeled the picture above because of my use of three different fabrics.  Hopefully that helps it be less confusing, along with the uppercase alphabet labels.  You can even write each letter to the wrong side of your fabric piece if you think it will help (it probably will—just make sure it will not show!).  I did not have time to figure out yardage—I just let Sunshine pick his fabrics from what I already had.

**All seam allowances are 1/4”.  Adjust your measurements if you use a different seam allowance.

**If you have directional fabric, make sure to read the entire tutorial before cutting and sewing so that you have a good understanding of the directions of the fabrics and how they are put together.

A-one 8.5” x 15” fabric for outer fabric

B- one 8.5” x 15” fusible interfacing piece, not pictured

C-two 8” x 8.5” fabric for pockets on sides

D-one 8.25” x 8.5” plus one 7.25” x 8.5” fabric for inner lining (**the 7.25” piece will be for the triple combination side, and the 8.25” piece will be for the Bible side)

E-two 8.5” x 1” fusible interfacing pieces, not pictured

F-one 8.5” x 16.5” fabric for the pockets on the flap

G-one 8.5” x 12.5” fabric for the flap

H-two 3.5” x 8” fabric pieces for velcro strap

I-two 5” x 13” fabric for the handle straps— *I highly suggest interfacing these pieces as well.  The fabric handles could use a little more strength to them and interfacing would help.

J-one 2.5” piece velcro

First, iron on your fusible interfacing (B) to the outer fabric (A).  Iron the 8.5” x 1” fusible interfacing pieces (E) onto one 8.5” edge of both the inner lining fabrics (D).  (and um…sorry for the crazy looking picture below.  I just don’t know what happened with the lighting here)

Take the soft side of the velcro (J) and sew it onto the outer fabric (A) about 1.25” from the edge and centered.

To make the velcro strap, take the two pieces of fabric for the strap (H) and place right sides together.  Sew along one long side, the top, and down the other long side.  Leave the bottom open.  Clip corners and turn through the bottom.  Iron and topstitch around the sides and top.

Sew the rough side of the velcro onto the finished edge of the velcro strap.

Now place the strap onto the right side of the outer fabric (A), opposite the side with the velcro you already sewed onto the outer fabric.  Center it along the 8.5” edge and baste closely to the edge to keep it in place when assembling the scripture cover.  Set aside.

Take the 8.5” x 16.5” pocket piece for the flap (F). Fold it in half, right sides together and just sew along the 8.5” edge.

Iron seam open.

Turn right side out.  Move the seam over so it isn’t centered, and iron a crease in the center as shown, so that the crease pops up when looking at the side with the seam.

Take the flap piece (G—measuring 8.5” x 12.5”) and iron in half, right sides together.

Lay the flap pocket piece (F) down on top of the flap piece (G) and line up the ironed creases.

Fold in half, right sides together, making sure the pocket piece (F) doesn’t move and doesn’t fold funny.

Sew down both short sides.  Clip just those two corners you see pictured.

Turn right side out, making sure a pocket ends up on either side.  Push out corners and iron.

Take the middle flap with pockets and both lining pieces (D).  Remember, the 7.25” piece is for the triple combination side, and the 8.25” piece is for the Bible side (in case you have directional fabric).

Sandwich the flap between the interfaced 8.5” edges of both inner lining pieces (D), centering it.  *It will not reach to the edges.  The right sides of the lining pieces (D) should be towards the flap.  See two pictures below.

Sew the inner lining pieces and the flap along the interfaced edge (left side in picture).

Take the two pocket pieces (C) and fold in half the 8” side, so you end up with two 8.5” x 4”.  Iron.

Place the pockets (C) onto the inner piece with the flap that you just completed.  Put the unfinished edges together and baste the pockets in place close to the edges.

You should now have the inner and outer fabric portions of the cover looking like this:

We’re almost finished!  Let’s make the handle straps!  Take one of the handle strap fabrics (I).  Fold in half and iron.

Open, then fold the long edges towards the center crease and iron.

Fold in half again and iron.  Repeat with other handle strap (I).

Topstitch along both long edges of both handle straps.

Pin the straps onto the outer fabric piece 1.25” away from the long edges, and even with the unfinished side edges. Make sure they don’t twist the wrong way, Baste in place.  *You want to make sure that the handle straps are all the way over to the edge, or even overlapping a little bit so that you catch them while sewing the layers together.

You should now have this:

Pin the flap away from the edges.

Here is where you want to make sure you know which side you want which book.  Whatever side you want the Bible, make sure the longer inner lining piece (D) ends up on that side.  So place the inner portion on top of the outer portion right sides together.  Pin, then sew around the entire edge, but leave a small opening away from the side pockets and middle flap seam.  Clip corners and turn right side out through opening.

Iron.

I chose to hand stitch the opening closed, but you can close it however you want.  I used a slip stitch so the threads are hidden.  You can do a quick search online on how to do one.  Since it’s such a small opening it sews up really quickly.

You are finished! 

Here’s hoping this handsome boy will enjoy it!  (picture for his baptism announcement)

Enjoy your day!