A Book of Shadows is an important tool for a witch; it is a record of knowledge, a place to keep spells, incantations and useful information that relates to your craft. You may wish to write ideas, dates, dreams or notes in it, for it is a place to store your thoughts. A simple notebook can serve as a Book of Shadows, but if you're anything like me, things start to get chaotic after a while, and it is difficult to organise your notes. Once written in, you can't re-arrange things or swap them around. For this reason, my preferred method of arranging my collection of knowledge is in a ring binder. This method is well suited to organising the digital pages that I offer in my store too! Simply punch holes down the side of the pages and you can re-arrange them in any way that pleases you.
Being the creative sort, I wanted to decorate my folder with a beautiful fabric cover; it is such an easy way to cover a folder and leaves plenty of room for you to put your own mark on its design. I stitched a piece of black lace over a strip or red satin to create an elegant, gothic design. I even added on an old pendant to create a little hanging piece.
Let your next creative project be creating your own DIY Book of Shadows cover by following the steps in this tutorial.
You will need:
- Folder to cover
- Fabric for outer cover
- Fabric for lining
- Scissors
- Tape measure & pen
- Pins
- Thread & needles for hand sewing, or a sewing machine.
1. Measure out 2 rectangular pieces of fabric, a cover piece and a lining piece, that are 1 inch longer than your folder, and 5 inches wider each side than your folder.
2. Note where the front of the cover will be, in case you want to position any fabric prints or add your own trimmings.
3. Lay these 2 pieces right sides together, pin, then sew down the left and right sides only using a 0.5 inch seam allowance.
4. Mark the centre of the fabric, then position your folder on the centre, laying it flat. Mark the 4 corners of the folder on the fabric, fractionally larger than the folder (1/16 of an inch, or 1mm) cutting a small notch along the edge with your scissors into the upper and lower edges on both sides.
5. With the cover piece of fabric on top, fold the material where the 2 left hand notches meet. Pin along this fold line to hold it in place.
6. Turn your cover over so that the lining fabric is on top. There should be a flap of lining fabric, fold it at the hemmed edge and bring it over so that it is level with the folded edge you just pinned. This will require some manipulation to get it to lay flat.
7. The hemmed edge will now be tucked inside the layers, pin it in place and repeat this process on the other side of the cover.
8. Stitch across the top raw edge of the cover using a 0.5 inch seam allowance. Before stitching along the bottom edge too, lay your folder on the fabric and mark the stitch line, ensuring it is fractionally larger than the length of the folder to allow for the thickness of the folder. Leave a gap at the bottom centre for turning it through the right way.
9. Trim the corners and turn the cover through the right way.
10. Top stitch the opening gap closed, then insert your folder into the 2 internal pockets.
You should now have a cover that sits comfortably over your folder, ready to be filled with spells, potions and esoteric knowledge. There are plenty of printable pages for your Grimoire in my store, expertly designed and waiting to grace the inside of your Book of Shadows.
I'd love to see what you make, so please tag me on instagram @heather.b00ks so I can marvel at your magickal creation!