Give your children some scrap fabrics from your stash and let them decorate an old or inexpensive ring binder to make a super gift - or a special file in which to keep their certificates, awards etc.
You will need:
Old ring binder
Scraps of green, brown and natural fabric (or choose your colours to suit the purpose and recipient)
Fabric glue or white (PVA) glue
Pinking shears
Cut the fabric into squares of about 5 inches. Spread a thin layer of fabric glue all over the front of the binder. Stick on the fabric in a patchwork pattern, pulling tight to remove lumps and wrinkles. It is best to work from the centre out.
Trim the edges of the fabric with pinking shears (to prevent fraying) to about ½ an inch bigger than the binder. Put a thin layer of glue around the edges of the inside of the binder. Fold in the edges to secure the fabric in place.
To create neat corners; firstly fold in a triangle at the corner:
Then fold in one seam:
And then the other:
If you are going to give the binder as a gift, perhaps you could add a special tag?
