Make a simple texture book for babies.
I made this texture book for Lily after seeing this post from One Inch World. Originally, I intended to follow Katherine’s design of a proper book, but I chose several thick fabrics (including part of an old towel). I then made the rather unwise decision to try to serge it since I had the serger
out to fix a shirt and it would have been so hard to pull the other machine forward instead… The fabric was too thick for the serger’s blade, and I gave up on that idea after sewing maybe an inch and a half. I considered cutting that bit off and sewing everything up properly but decided that Lily would like it just fine the way it was. Lily seems intrigued by the finished product, and I’ll probably bring it along for our December trans-Atlantic flight.
How to Make a Texture Book for Babies
What You'll Find on This Page
Here’s a photo of the fabrics I used for Lily’s “book”, all scraps from my sewing stash:
Next time, I think I will add a piece of plain white cotton fabric; even the fish print had some texture to it. Lily, of course, is perfectly fine with the book as is.
Baby Texture Book Tutorial
Here is how I made Lily’s book:
- Select fabrics.
- Cut fabrics to uniform sizes. My squares are roughly 8 inches by 8 inches.
- Serge, hem, or cut edges with pinking shears
to prevent fraying. - Decide on an order for the pages of your book. I tried to alternate thinner and thicker fabrics, as well as coarser and softer. The more variety, the better, from your baby’s point of view.
- Sew the pages together. You can do this at the corner, as I did, or sew a straight edge like Katherine did for her more sophisticated baby book. While my version of this book was an accident, I am quite happy with the finished look. the corner seam allows my baby to look at one page at a time in a way that she wouldn’t have been able to with a more traditional design.
to prevent fraying.If you don’t have a sewing machine, you could stitch some scraps together using a simple needle and thread – it’ll just take a little longer (or not, if you have sewing machine issues like I did).
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Awesome! I just read your comment on the Activity Mom and love your idea here.
Thank you for sharing this idea! I have lots of fabric scraps and this would be a wonderful way to use some. :)
What a great idea! I’m always looking for new ways to use up scraps, and this is perfect!
Oh, thank you thank you for reminding me of this idea!! I read about something similar on another blog, and thought right away that I’d like to make one for the son of one of my closest friends. He has autism and other massive developmental delays, and I think the textured book would be great for him. I read your post and realized that it would be really nice to make him one now, because he’s going into the hospital next week for a special treatment (will stay for a week for observation). We went into the sewing room today and picked out fabrics and I’ve started sewing it. Yay, it will be such a nice “good luck” sort of gift for them. THANKS! I’ll post about it sometime if I don’t mess it up. :)
Love it! I’ve thought about doing something similar in rainbow order & maybe even embroidering the color words in it.
I’m sure she’ll love it on the plane!
Great idea, especially considering how much these books cost in stores.
Good idea. I’ve been meaning to make Annie-Rose a book out of the pretty fabrics she loves!!
Thanks for another great idea! I’ve just bookmarked it. I have a feeling I’m going to need a lot of things to keep Leila busy when she gets older so I can still spend quality time with the older two doing activities that will be way over her head.
I love all of your ideas with simple things at home to use.I ican always check your blog for rainy day fun . Thank you!
this is great!