5 DIY Book Covers, No Paper Grocery Bags Required

Brown Paper Bag Crafts: 15 DIY School Supplies

You don’t need paper grocery bags to make any of these cute, DIY Book covers!

You don't need paper grocery bags to make any of these cute, DIY Book covers!

So you can’t make a brown paper bag book cover because you don’t have any brown paper bags?

More power to you, my friends!

I do have to admit that I have a soft spot for that free kraft paper, amenable to so many crafty uses, but it is by no means the only material available for creating a sturdy temporary cover for your books.

We are resourceful, we are recyclers, and we can make ourselves an awesome book cover out of practically anything.

Some of us, however, have achieved new heights in the realm of DIY book covers, and this round-up is an homage to a few of those crafters who not only crafted an awesome, eco-friendly book cover, but who also lived to write about it:

1. If you’re any kind of fangeek, check out the post at La Carmina showing off books covered with pages from J-Pop fan mags. It makes me long for a Teen Beat with a few Corey Haim vs. Corey Feldman glossies.

2.  For a straight-up fabric book cover that looks and behaves a lot like a paper bag book cover, try out this fabric book cover tutorial by Natalie Jost. It’s got the math to enable you to cover any size book that you want.

3. This sewn patchwork book cover from V and Co. is a stashbuster’s fantasy. It’s quick and easy and the math is relatively pain-free, and after you make a big project, you can use up just a few of your throwaway scraps to make your subway reading materials suitably mitchy-matchy!

4. This paper patchwork book cover  from iHanna’s blog is definitely NOT removable, but yay for scrapbook paper! And if you know you’re going to read that Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter novel over and over and OVER again, why bother pulling off the book cover when you’re done? Might as well make it permanent!

5. A potato chip book cover from Make and Takes is an excellent way to give a little shout-out to your favorite brand, even when you’re not currently munching. Of course, my Master’s in archival librarianship is screaming in my head at the thought of even a washed and dried greasy chip bag snuggling up next to my paperbacks, so I’ll just mention that the silver inside lining? Would look GREAT facing out!

Other awesome book cover ideas?

3 thoughts on “5 DIY Book Covers, No Paper Grocery Bags Required”

  1. I love the book covers. When I taught MS science, one of our first ‘assignments’ was to make book covers from paper grocery sacks. It gave the students a chance to be creative, & gave them ownership, which helped keep the books in better condition. And I could add ‘measurement’ and ‘following directions’ to my lesson plans.

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