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August 30, 2012

Cork fabric book cover

Olá! Some weeks ago I made available a free pattern in my weekly post . It was a Japoneira, a traditional Portuguese pattern commonly used in Viana do Castelo typical embroidery.

At the time I embroidered that pattern on cork skin (cork fabric or cork leather), a Portuguese great eco-friendly material. I promised I would show the final work using that piece of embroidery and that's what I'll do today.

Last year when I was on a Christmas craft show I was asked many and many times if I was selling bookcovers. And I wasn't!! I said to myself that the next time I couldn't have no as an answer. A few months later I created embroidered book cover kits made of burel, another Portuguese traditional material, and I can say they were the winter season success!

When I finished the Japoneira pattern I thought that it would be great to apply it in a bookcover made of cork fabric. I remember seeing many book covers made of leather in "old times." A friend told me that many years ago it was not common to see someone reading a book that was not protected by a bookcover and usually they were made of leather. I confess that a cork bookcover reminded me of those old bookcovers and I loved the idea.

One of these days I'll make a tutorial on how I make my embroidered bookcovers. It's very easy but I only use fabrics that don't unravel.. That's my secret...

Embroidered cork fabric bookcover
Embroidered bookcover made of cork fabric
I always add a bookmark to my bookcovers and I can assure you that it is very useful. 
Although they are not "universal", the measures I usually use make the bookcover adaptable to almost all books.

If you want you can take a look inside...

Cork fabric Book cover
Take a look inside the cork fabric bookcover...
I'm happy with the final result. But I confess myself desperately in love with cork... So I'm suspicious...
This one I offered to a friend. But I've already made two more. And one of those was for me... My holidays would not have been the same without it.

If you want to try this pattern it is still available and free... You may download it here.

And to end with our Portuguese lesson let me tell you how we say "book", it's "livro", one of my favorite words... 

6 comments:

  1. Lovely work ;)
    Thank you for the link !!

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  2. The cork looks amazing! I have never seen it used before, I need to get my hands on some.

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  3. Thank you Gabi, for your posts, I never miss one - the Portuguese Soul is very beautiful! I admit I have never heard of cork fabric before, but it is very nice. And I do like your book cover, especially the embroidery!

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  4. CUTE. can't wait for a tutorial! Be sure to tell us where to buy the cork too ;-)

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  5. Kira - oopsicraftmypants.comAugust 31, 2012 at 1:41 PM

    I've never even heard of cork fabric, but now I want to learn more! This is so beautiful, and it looks like it feels amazing.

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