If you've got a stack of old books, used-up notebooks, or finished planners gathering dust — this tutorial is exactly what to do with them. I walk through my method for turning existing book covers into journals with completely removable signatures, no sewing required. The elastic binding means you can swap pages in and out as many times as you like, which makes each cover something you keep and reuse rather than use once and set aside.
What we cover
This tutorial works through three different cover situations: books you want to leave mostly as-is, books you want to fully cover with fabric, and books that only need a little patching up. Across all three, I show how to reinforce the spine, attach the elastic binding, make junk-journal-style signatures from mixed paper scraps, and finish the cover with embellishments — book corners, book plates, charms, beads, and trim. I also show how to scale from two signatures up to four or more.
What you'll learn
How to assess and reinforce a book spine before altering it — including when to add an extra layer of card stock even if one is already there, and how to cut away the inner spine material cleanly without accidentally nicking the spine itself.
How to cover a spine with fabric, including:
- Applying an even layer of fabric glue and working it into the grooves on both sides of the spine
- Using a hair straightener to press small pieces of fabric without pulling or stretching them
- Why I don't use paper for this step — it can tear along the groove over time
How to fully cover a book with fabric seamlessly, including:
- Gluing the back cover first, then the front, then wrapping and mitering the corners inside
- Covering the inner panels with a torn-fabric piece that hides raw edges and the inside of the wrap
- Getting glue evenly into every groove before the fabric goes down — pulling sections of glue show through once the fabric is on
How to punch and prepare the spine holes for elastic binding, including:
- Marking hole placement so the signatures aren't too restricted in height
- Keeping holes small enough that the knot sits on the outside and can't slip back through
- Why eyelets aren't necessary (though they do look pretty)
How to thread and tie the elastic binding for two, four, or more signatures, including:
- Using a small piece of wire as a threading tool to guide elastic from inside to outside
- Leaving a small loop at the top to hang a charm or dangle from
- Bringing the knot to the inside of the spine instead — so you have a clean exterior with no hardware showing
- Scaling up: two holes top and bottom for four signatures, three sets for six, and so on
Why I don't pull the elastic too tight — elastic deteriorates faster under tension, and a looser knot means longer life. It can always be replaced if needed.
How to make junk-journal-style signatures from mixed paper scraps, including:
- Trimming all pages to a height shorter than where the elastics start and end, so signatures slip in and out freely
- Using the tallest page as a cutting template for the rest
- Keeping the sturdiest page in the middle of each signature
- What kinds of embellishments work — flat things like stickers, pockets, ripped paper edges — and why chunky or ruffled additions cause problems when sliding signatures in and out
How to turn end pages into pockets — rather than throwing them away, cutting the end page out and reusing that same paper as a pocket glued over the inner cover panel. It matches perfectly because it is the same paper.
How to finish the cover, including:
- Applying book corners to protect and decorate the cover edges
- Adding a stamped book plate and mounting it onto gold card stock for a matted effect
- Attaching beads to the dangling elastic ends, with enough slack that the beads slide freely when the journal opens flat
- Using decorative trim to cover fabric's frayed edges along the spine
Tips & gotchas
Keep glue thin and even. This one matters more than it sounds — a blob of glue that you smooth out unevenly will show as a ridge or wet patch right through your fabric. Paint it on in a consistent layer, work it all the way into the grooves, and don't leave any pulling sections before the fabric goes down.
Hole size is critical for the elastic to actually hold. The knot needs to be larger than the hole — if the hole is too big, the knot pulls straight through and the whole binding fails. I use a small punch and don't enlarge it unless I have to. Also keep holes away from the very edge of the spine, or the elastic will eventually tear through.
Don't over-tighten when you tie off the elastic. Tight elastic wears out faster. Snug is fine; strained is not. You can always replace the elastic later, but you won't need to nearly as often if you don't overtighten it in the first place.
Signature height matters for the removable page system to work. Before you assemble anything, measure from where the top elastic sits to where the bottom elastic sits, and make sure every page in every signature is shorter than that span. If even one page is too tall, the signature won't slip through. I use the tallest trimmed page as a template and cut everything else to match.
When ironing small pieces of fabric with a hair straightener, go carefully — it's easy to pull the fabric out of shape while you're pressing it. Use light pressure and don't drag.
Chunky embellishments on signatures are fun until you try to put the signature back in. Ruffles, thick stacked layers, and dimensional elements can snag on the elastic or simply not fit. Flat pockets, stitching, stickers, and ripped paper edges all work beautifully without creating friction.
Be very careful when cutting away the inner spine material. It's easy to cut through the spine itself while you're working in that narrow space, which would be genuinely difficult to repair. Take it slow — or just grip the inner material and rip it away from the side rather than cutting.
Once you have a cover bound this way, it never really finishes — you fill a signature, pull it out, slide a new one in, and the journal keeps going. Old planners, hardcover notebooks from years ago, found books at the charity shop: all of them become something you can actually use. And because the signatures are removable, you can be quite free with them — try different paper combinations, try different embellishment styles, and if something doesn't work, pull it out and start again. The cover outlasts all of it.
