Prettied up planner
So for a couple of months now, I've been using a Levenger Circa junior-size planner. I've been interested in the Levenger circa system for years, ever since I saw ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
playgreek and family using them. But they are pricey! So when I decided to invest (and I do mean invest; the hole punch is like $70!) I wanted to make sure that I actually liked the system before I jumped in with both feet (or with $70, as it were). I did this by buying a cheapo starter pack (for the much more manageable amount of about $12), which came with a bunch of pre-punched paper as well as a translucent plastic cover and some rings. I quickly decided that I loved the concept, but didn't particularly like the stater papers that came with the notebook--too form-y, not free-form-y enough. And I wanted to be able to print my electronic calendar from iCal and Google Calendar and have a paper copy with me. So that meant investing in the hole punch. And some heavy-weight printer paper. And I've been very pleased with the results, in general. The notebook is a good size, and I always have it handy for jotting stuff down, so that my poor preggers brain, which is apparently made of applesauce these days, doesn't have to struggle to remember when my midwife appointments are or what exactly we needed at the grocery store.
What I really wanted was one of the pretty bookcloth covered notebooks, which come with a handy-dandy pen loop as well as being lovely colors (like plum, and turquoise, and jade). But spending another $48 on a notebook that's enhanced with a measly piece of elastic to replace a perfectly functional notebook lacking elastic seemed, well, wasteful. So yesterday, when I should have been doing real work, or at least altering some ofthesporkinator 's suit trousers, I decided to make a custom cover for the planner instead. (What can I say? It was a beautiful sunny day, and my sewing room has the nicest sunshine ...)
I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, in the end. The materials I used were 3 mostly complete fat quarters, leftover from a pack that I bought in college. In early college. So probably this fabric has been hanging around about 8 years now. It's made its way into various projects in small ways, but I still had big chunks left. Hooray for my awesome fabric stash! (I'm working on stash busting from now on, until I make enough space in the drawers that I can put more yardage in ...) I also employed for the covers a cardboard cereal box that was in the recycling bin, and some stiff sew-in interfacing scraps that I also found in the stash helped give some body to the pockets.
The final product has two cloth-covered covers. Each cover has pockets on the interior. The front pocket is vertical (I copied this design element from some of Levenger's uber-pricey leather folders). The back cover has a pen pocket and a horizontal pocket for papers. The updated cover is about 1/2" wider than the original Levenger-sized cover, in order to accomodate the pen pocket, but I don't think this is a bad thing.
Unfortunately, this project took a lot longer than I expected, mostly because I sort of had to change plans a couple times in the middle. (I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the applesaucey pregnant brain, which isn't so good at math or analysis these days.) I don't think the changes made the project worse in any way, just a little more difficult and time consuming. This was supposed to be just a short little thing, to enjoy some sunshine before getting back to real work. Hah!
For one thing, I totally failed to add seam allowances to the fabric I cut out for the main body (the blue/purple wave). This decision was prompted by the fact that I was just going to glue the fabric down onto the cereal box cardboard I cut for the cover. But then I realized that I didn't have any spray adhesive, and elmer's glue would be messy, and hot glue would hurt my fingers ... so I decided to sew the fabric to the cardboard instead. This was surprisingly easy. I didn't even break a needle. But then the cardboard cum fabric was too thick to go into my punch, so it couldn't become the cover on its own. I had to adjust everything (read: pick out everything) so that I could slide the translucent cover of the notebook's original shell into the fabric/cardboard cover.
For a second thing, the whole no-seam-allowances thing meant that the front vertical pocket, which I had intended for use housing folded 8.5 x 11 sheets, wouldn't actually hold said 8.5 x 11 sheets once they were sewed down. Sigh. I solved this problem by adding a pocket horizontally in the back cover. It took some rejiggering, and I had to cover up part of the pen holder, and I had to hand-sew one edge of the pocket down so as not to lose the functionality of the pen pocket ... but it all works now. Can put folded papers in back pocket, receipts and smaller pieces in front pocket, and still have holder for a pen or two.
I made skinny double-fold bias tape out of one of my pieces of fabric, which I used to bind the edges. And a good thing I did, too, since I ended up needing something to bind the edges to keep the pocket together, following the major design change from cover to pocket! Learning how to make my own bias tape (using the continuous method here, by the Dread Pirate Rodgers) has been a real revelation in my sewing. I love love love bias tape. And piping. And edging. And once I found this tutorial (from Autum at creative little daisy) on a DIY way to make double-fold bias tape, I love it even more. I attached the bias tape using hot glue (ouch! My poor index fingers are not sure about hot glue.) Despite the burned fingers, I think the bias edging really makes the whole project. It sort of ties it all together. Thank goodness it works; I would have been very disappointed to put in so much time and end up with a sticky, gluey, mess that looked awful or didn't lie flat.
On the whole, I'm pleased--but probably won't be redoing this project any time soon!
Total fabric: parts of 3 fat quarters. Probably if I had used fewer fabrics, I could have gotten away pretty easily with just one fat quarter and some bias tape or ribbon. And about 18 square inches of sew-in interfacing.
Total cost: I'm going to call it zero! Because these fat quarters and the interfacing came from the stash, and I don't even remember how much I might have paid for them back then.
Total time: from planning to finished, about 4.5 hours. Probably I could have cut this down by measuring more carefully, including seam allowances, and sketching out a plan on paper before I started. But where would the fun be in that?
playgreek and family using them. But they are pricey! So when I decided to invest (and I do mean invest; the hole punch is like $70!) I wanted to make sure that I actually liked the system before I jumped in with both feet (or with $70, as it were). I did this by buying a cheapo starter pack (for the much more manageable amount of about $12), which came with a bunch of pre-punched paper as well as a translucent plastic cover and some rings. I quickly decided that I loved the concept, but didn't particularly like the stater papers that came with the notebook--too form-y, not free-form-y enough. And I wanted to be able to print my electronic calendar from iCal and Google Calendar and have a paper copy with me. So that meant investing in the hole punch. And some heavy-weight printer paper. And I've been very pleased with the results, in general. The notebook is a good size, and I always have it handy for jotting stuff down, so that my poor preggers brain, which is apparently made of applesauce these days, doesn't have to struggle to remember when my midwife appointments are or what exactly we needed at the grocery store.What I really wanted was one of the pretty bookcloth covered notebooks, which come with a handy-dandy pen loop as well as being lovely colors (like plum, and turquoise, and jade). But spending another $48 on a notebook that's enhanced with a measly piece of elastic to replace a perfectly functional notebook lacking elastic seemed, well, wasteful. So yesterday, when I should have been doing real work, or at least altering some of
thesporkinator 's suit trousers, I decided to make a custom cover for the planner instead. (What can I say? It was a beautiful sunny day, and my sewing room has the nicest sunshine ...)I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, in the end. The materials I used were 3 mostly complete fat quarters, leftover from a pack that I bought in college. In early college. So probably this fabric has been hanging around about 8 years now. It's made its way into various projects in small ways, but I still had big chunks left. Hooray for my awesome fabric stash! (I'm working on stash busting from now on, until I make enough space in the drawers that I can put more yardage in ...) I also employed for the covers a cardboard cereal box that was in the recycling bin, and some stiff sew-in interfacing scraps that I also found in the stash helped give some body to the pockets.
The final product has two cloth-covered covers. Each cover has pockets on the interior. The front pocket is vertical (I copied this design element from some of Levenger's uber-pricey leather folders). The back cover has a pen pocket and a horizontal pocket for papers. The updated cover is about 1/2" wider than the original Levenger-sized cover, in order to accomodate the pen pocket, but I don't think this is a bad thing.
Unfortunately, this project took a lot longer than I expected, mostly because I sort of had to change plans a couple times in the middle. (I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the applesaucey pregnant brain, which isn't so good at math or analysis these days.) I don't think the changes made the project worse in any way, just a little more difficult and time consuming. This was supposed to be just a short little thing, to enjoy some sunshine before getting back to real work. Hah!
For one thing, I totally failed to add seam allowances to the fabric I cut out for the main body (the blue/purple wave). This decision was prompted by the fact that I was just going to glue the fabric down onto the cereal box cardboard I cut for the cover. But then I realized that I didn't have any spray adhesive, and elmer's glue would be messy, and hot glue would hurt my fingers ... so I decided to sew the fabric to the cardboard instead. This was surprisingly easy. I didn't even break a needle. But then the cardboard cum fabric was too thick to go into my punch, so it couldn't become the cover on its own. I had to adjust everything (read: pick out everything) so that I could slide the translucent cover of the notebook's original shell into the fabric/cardboard cover.
For a second thing, the whole no-seam-allowances thing meant that the front vertical pocket, which I had intended for use housing folded 8.5 x 11 sheets, wouldn't actually hold said 8.5 x 11 sheets once they were sewed down. Sigh. I solved this problem by adding a pocket horizontally in the back cover. It took some rejiggering, and I had to cover up part of the pen holder, and I had to hand-sew one edge of the pocket down so as not to lose the functionality of the pen pocket ... but it all works now. Can put folded papers in back pocket, receipts and smaller pieces in front pocket, and still have holder for a pen or two.
I made skinny double-fold bias tape out of one of my pieces of fabric, which I used to bind the edges. And a good thing I did, too, since I ended up needing something to bind the edges to keep the pocket together, following the major design change from cover to pocket! Learning how to make my own bias tape (using the continuous method here, by the Dread Pirate Rodgers) has been a real revelation in my sewing. I love love love bias tape. And piping. And edging. And once I found this tutorial (from Autum at creative little daisy) on a DIY way to make double-fold bias tape, I love it even more. I attached the bias tape using hot glue (ouch! My poor index fingers are not sure about hot glue.) Despite the burned fingers, I think the bias edging really makes the whole project. It sort of ties it all together. Thank goodness it works; I would have been very disappointed to put in so much time and end up with a sticky, gluey, mess that looked awful or didn't lie flat.
On the whole, I'm pleased--but probably won't be redoing this project any time soon!
Total fabric: parts of 3 fat quarters. Probably if I had used fewer fabrics, I could have gotten away pretty easily with just one fat quarter and some bias tape or ribbon. And about 18 square inches of sew-in interfacing.
Total cost: I'm going to call it zero! Because these fat quarters and the interfacing came from the stash, and I don't even remember how much I might have paid for them back then.
Total time: from planning to finished, about 4.5 hours. Probably I could have cut this down by measuring more carefully, including seam allowances, and sketching out a plan on paper before I started. But where would the fun be in that?
Also, when are we going to see more pregnancy photos??
I'm also glad you think this planner is 'me.' I think so too. :-D
There's a recent (last week) preggo photo on Facebook, if you're interested.
for when you need a new fix...
But, since I have continued to use the system for more and more things, and I can only justify Levenger prices very occasionally, I've been pleased to discover...
1) Staples now carries a Rollabind (the name of the patent) junior size notebook with bookcloth covers. I've only just started to wear through the corners of the green one I bought a year and a half ago. And I just got a blue one to hold the script of the purim play and then ALCESTIS. Switching ring size isn't as good as with the Levenger covers, because they're based on cardboard not plastic, but they've still been great.
2) There's http://www.rollabind.com. Levenger quality. Happier prices. I keep my Greek classes in a large one with dividers and pockets, my non-Greek classes in another, and my committee/department work in a third.
I also do a lot of folding regular weight 8.5 x 11 paper in half, trimming a 1/4 inch off the top, and punching it on the open end for the junior notebook. Then, if you've printing in two columns, landscape, you effectively get a reinforced double-sided page. Let me know if that doesn't make sense. I do it *all* the time, and I'll try to make it clearer.
When I'm setting up for the Play, I print two columns on card stock, one sided, and cut in half. Then I have a great, tough prompt book: a blank page facing a script page. And of course the GP binder *is* leather from Levenger and embossed. I'm sure I've used the same one for four plays. (It's red--did I have it by the time of LIBATION BEARERS?)
(I must admit, I did switch to PDA/iPod for the calendar and addresses, since it syncs with home and office computers. I started losing track of my appointments when I was on paper.)
Love to the better half and the incubating one...