The first step in creating a quiet book is preparing the page base for activities.
In these instructions, I describe the fabric page preparation procedure, using cotton fabric. This fabric page preparation is suitable for the bias quiet book binding (binding with decorative edges – sewing method only, not for beginners) or bias hemming (sewing method only).
If you are thinking about basic quiet book binding, you should use the page preparation method described here.
If you just started planning your quiet book, I suggest you read the Essential Guide to quiet books, where you can read about the process of making a quiet book. You will understand the correlation between page preparations and busy book bindings.
The page preparation procedure when you use felt instead of the cotton fabric is different. The method is much quicker and simpler, but the pages look different than the fabric pages. Here you can find instructions for felt page preparation.
FABRIC PAGE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1
These instructions are the same for the no-sew and sewing method.
The final base page dimensions in these instructions are 21×21 cm (8 ¼ x 8 ¼ in). If you want to adjust the size of your quiet book page, make sure that the cotton fabric is about 3 cm (1 ⅛ in) larger than the interfacing.
In these instructions, I will use the temperature, steam and time conditions for the fusible interfacing which you can find in our store. If you are using another fusible interfacing, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
STEP 2
Place the cotton fabric sheet, 24×24 cm (9 ½ x 9 ½ in), face down. The face side (right side) of the fabric is the one with strong, vibrant colors and the design is clearly visible. The other side is paler and the color details are not clear (wrong side).
Iron the cotton fabric and make sure there are no wrinkles on the fabric. If you do not have an ironing board, you can place two towels on the table.
STEP 3
Put the light woven fusible interfacing, 21x21cm (8 ¼ x 8 ¼ in) on the cotton fabric sheet with the fusible side facing down. Try to place it in the exact middle of the fabric. Fusible interfacing has glue on one side (wrong side) and nice, soft cotton on the other (right side). Make sure you identify the fusible side with glue. You don’t want to iron on the wrong side of the interfacing, because your iron will get sticky.
STEP 4
Heat the iron to maximum temperature AND turn off the steam. Press down. DO NOT IRON, only press and hold for 10 seconds. Then lift the iron and repeat until you fuse the whole surface. Make sure you don’t miss a spot, otherwise the interfacing won’t stick on the cotton fabric.
Once you’ve pressed the entire surface with the iron, wait until the fabric page cools down to room temperature. This process is used to fuse the interfacing to the fabric.
STEP 5
Take a cardstock or equivalent material template, 21x21cm (8 ¼ x 8 ¼ in), and put it in the middle of reinforced fabric. Draw a line around the template with the erasable pen.
Cut the excess fabric (on the marked lines).
You finished the Biniboo Fabric Page Preparation for bias binding (or bias hemming). Congrats! Now you can glue or sew activities on it.