The first step in creating a quiet book is preparing the page base for activities. In these instructions, I describe the felt page preparation procedure.
This procedure is quick and simple, but the pages look different than the fabric pages. This felt page preparation is suitable for the basic quiet book binding and also appropriate to use felt pages for bias binding (binding with decorative edges – not for beginners, sewing only).
If you want to make pages out of fabric, see the instructions for fabric page preparation for basic binding here or bias binding here (also for bias hemming).
I also wrote an article The fastest way to make a beautiful Quiet book, where I used this felt page preparation.
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.
In these instructions, I will use the temperature, steam, and time conditions for felt and fusible interfacing, which you can find in our store. If you are using felt and fusible interfacing from somewhere else, follow the manufacturer’s instructions. I suggest you always try first on a small felt piece if there are any changes when ironing.
FELT PAGE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS
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 felt is about 2 cm (¾ in) larger than the interfacing.
These instructions are the same for the no-sew and sewing method.
STEP 1
Take the felt sheet, 21×21 cm (8 ¼ x 8 ¼ in).
Put the light woven fusible interfacing, 19x19cm (7 ½ x 7 ½ in) on the felt sheet with the fusible side facing down. Try to place it in the exact middle of the felt.
Fusible interfacing has glue on one side (wrong side) and 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 2
Heat the iron to maximum temperature AND turn off the steam.
Take a cotton cloth and put it between felt with the interfacing and the iron. Press the iron 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 felt page cools down to room temperature. This process is used to fuse the interfacing to the fabric.
Your felt page base is ready, you finished felt page preparation! You can now sew or glue the activities on it.
