Perfect for stashing away your crafty ideas, this notebook will become the pride of your collection!

What you need...

• Fabric: plain, orange; floral, blue, red; linen, white
  Notebook, 18cm x 13cm x 1.5cm
  Wadding
  Binding, bias, orange
  Buttons, assorted
  Thread: dark red, grey, orange, dark brown, blue
  Embroidery needle
  Fusible webbing
  Ribbon

instructions

1. Pin blue floral fabric, 5cm x 30cm, to the lower edge of red floral, 30cm x 50cm, and machine stitch with a 6mm seam. Press the seam open, then add orange, 30cm x 3cm, and another red, 5cm x 30cm. Trace the outline of ‘Diary 2013’ centrally onto linen, 10cm square.

2. Embroider the letters and numbers with chain stitch, using two strands of thread. Adhere the back of the linen onto fusible webbing, then trim, 4cm x 6cm. Remove the backing paper and fuse the label to the bottom-left corner. Trace the bird and wing outlines onto fusible webbing and cut out.

3. Fuse the bird onto blue floral fabric and the wing onto orange. Cut out and peel off the backing papers. Press the bird to the top-right corner of the cover and add the wing, then embroider around this using blanket stitch as shown with two strands of blue thread.

4. Neaten the wing with orange blanket stitch, then embroider small triangles for the legs and beak. Draw on the needle and fill in with grey straight stitches, then add a swirling thread. Sew over this in
   whipped running stitch using a single orange thread, then attach the buttons.

5. Place plain orange fabric, 20cm x 30cm, face down, then position wadding, 25cm x 50cm, over it. Add the front cover with the right side up and check that all the corners are aligned. Pin the three
   layers together, then bind one long edge of each inner pocket with the bias binding.

6. Matching the raw edges, pin pockets of red floral fabric, 10cm x 20cm, to each side of the orange inner cover. Tack all the way around the outside, then trim a curve at each corner. Finish with bias
   binding. Sew the tape to the centre-top edge, then slip the covers into the pockets.