Sew a stylish, zippered, padded cover for your planner journal
Sew Your Own Planner Cover
It's been high time to get my life organised, and what better way than with an Erin Condren Life Planner.
EDITED to add this pattern is now available to purchase!
I know a lot of the world has gone to simply using a smartphone to record appointments and plan their week and and I can see the convenience of this.
But I need to see my life LARGE, and at a glance, and sometimes it's nice to have an excuse to not look at a screen.
I like to write to do lists, meal plans, and see how they correspond with what's on each day.
I also love how doing this forces me to slow down and physically write something.
Sometimes I'd lose track of the last time I'd actually ever used my own handwriting!
So I ordered this on New Years Day, and of course the lovely people at Erin Condren were still away having a well earned holiday break.
But that meant a long wait for me, and then I missed the delivery, through not hearing the knock at the front door.
I was being organised, sorting out my daughter's bedroom.
Oh, the irony!
When it finally arrived, I totally loved the front cover design, all shiny and personalised with my name, but... I can sew book covers.
I couldn't leave it naked, so off I went.
I decided to match the colour scheme that it already had, combining some classic patchwork with all my favourites...
This happy stack is a mix of Liberty lawn, Cosmo, Playground by Amy Sinibaldi, some Little House on the Prairie, Yuwa, Les Fleurs, and a really pretty birdie print that I got from Spotlight ages ago.
How many of your favourites can you spot?
This looked like a grown-up colour palette to me, with just the right amount of pretty.
Figuring Out the Measurements
I used the four-at-a-time triangle method, and then squared up each section.
I cut my squares at 3.5", for a finished square of 2.5".
Then there was the special trip to buy the right length zip, and dang it if I didn't go and cut if off too short, just when everything was going peachy...yes, I still do things like that!!
So that meant another trip to buy another zip, and meant it all took longer.
I worked away at several different designs before settling on this one for my first sample.
But just look at this pretty view...all that figuring out, scribbling, crossing out and seam ripping was worth it!
I sighed audibly when I first saw that selvedge on the Les Fleurs fabric.
I mean, how cute can you get?
The finished pattern cover has 3 different designs to this one shown, but I love them all!
Flex Foam For Stability
So this is my third project backed with flex-foam and I still love sewing with it so much.
Such a professional finish, great support, and all very easy to handle while sewing.
I added a very Zakka style pretty 'handmade' accent embellishment for the front, and some more pretty touches inside.
These are still my very favourite things to add to a project and make the handmade truly shine.
You can't buy this!
I also just love the navy piping in Playground fabric.
Hopefully these all inspire me to keep on track with my new organised self.
Don't miss out on picking up a copy of the pattern to make one of these for yourself or someone you know who needs a planner cover!
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