Embroidered Book Cover - Making the Base Cover I

I'm making the base cover (to sew the embroidered panels onto) according to .

Lady Martel's Embroidered Bookcover

http://aeg.atlantia.sca.org/projects/howto/martbook.htm

I cut the paper pattern and it fitted nicely against the book. It was a little tricky with those sloped edges on the back flap but with a bit of paper folding, I worked out how it should go.

I was going to use a maroon thin silky lining material, but I discovered a hole. I switched to a slightly thicker lining material in tea rose.

Also, I noticed the velvet I had was polyester velvet, not silk velvet.

I cut the two pieces, one velvet, one tea rose lining, pinned the edges right sides together and started to sew.

After doing one long side, it all went to hell in a handbasket.

I don't know if the materials were too slippery and I should have tacked, or I did something else bad - (I dislike practical sewing and there's a reason!) but rounding the corner I found that the edges didn't meet anymore. There was heaps of velvet seam allowance, and very little tea rose.

I managed to sew it according to the seam line on the tea rose anyway, thinking it wouldn't matter if strange things happened with the seam allowance since it'll all be trimmed anyway.

On finishing, and turning it inside out, I found the cover was several sizes too small. Should have expected that!

So I'm taking a different approach.

I've cut another piece of velvet. I'm going to hem it to the right size, just on it's own.

I'll then sew the embroidery panels onto it at the appropriate places.

I will then cut the lining material. I've decided to go for some penne velvet purple/burgundy. I was thinking that i needed a fairly heavy cover to support the weight of the panels. (as well as to match aestheticaly in a 'heavy' sense).

I'll hem that, and then sew the two pieces, wrong sides together. This will hide any sewing on the back of the black piece from the embroidery panels.

The lining reaches to half way inside the back and front covers, and you sew the edges of these (invisibly as possible) to the lining on the outside of the back and front covers so there's some tension holding the cover on. (Lady Martel explains it better)

You won't be able to see the burgundy velvet lining much, unless you actually take the cover off.

I'll scan as I go along, to hopefully make it all clear.

This is definitely a boring bit - hemming velvet invisibly as possible because I don't want the stitches to show on the front of the cover.

I have also just joined every SCA Needlwork on-line group that will have me - to suck their braaains!

I found a most interesting thread in the archives of "Thimble" all about "Silk Filament, Twist and a Mystery" I think it was called - quite long, and over a couple of months.

I learnt heaps reading that.

I visited ThreadNeedleStreet for the first time, and was able to appreciate the different types of silk.

Today I hope to make it to the library since there are EIGHT interlibrary loans waiting for me. Books like "The Batsford Book of Canvas" and "16th and 17th C Catalogue of Embroidery" and some Thomasina Beck. I'm going to be a busy reader in the next fortnight :-)