Some friends living in South Korea tipped me off to a trend they’ve seen in stores: the corner bookmark. These slide-on bookmarks can be made from fabric or paper, and I’ve written a tutorial for the fabric version you see here. Wouldn’t these make cool teacher appreciation gifts?
Since I have a lot of charm squares, I decided to use those for my bookmarks. Each charm square yields one bookmark, or you can use two charm squares to make two bookmarks with different images on the inside and outside.
Supplies:
1-2 fabric charm squares (5″x5″)
2.5″x5″ piece of medium-weight fusible interfacing (I used Pellon 808)
Iron, sewing machine, thread, sewing pins
Choose two charm squares (or you may use just one if you want the same fabric on the inside and outside of the bookmark).
Cut squares in half on the 2.5″ mark. Set aside half, which you can use for a second bookmark.
Use your iron to fuse interfacing to the back of your feature fabric.
Pin fabric with right sides together.
Stitch 1/8″ from edges, leaving a 2″ gap on one long edge for turning.
Clip corners, making sure to avoid your stitch line.
Turn inside out and use a pen or turning tool to poke out the corners. Pin opened edge closed.
Topstitch 1/8″ from edge around perimeter, and press.
Fold rectangle in half and pin one edge perpendicular to the folded edge you just made. Stitch along pinned edge, 1/8″ from edge.
Open fabric into a triangle, with seam you just stitched facing the back. Press.
Slip bookmark over the corner of pages you would like to mark. These bookmarks can be used to mark two pages at once, depending on how many pages you slip inside.
This is a great 10-minute craft for when you don’t have a lot of time, and would be an easy sewing project for beginners. And since we learned from Wednesday’s giveaway question that many of you still prefer paper books to e-readers (giveaway is still open through 5/2), you might even make several to give as gifts!
If you’ve used the corner bookmarks tutorial, we’d love to see your version in the Craft Buds Flickr pool!
48 comments
These are sooo cute! Love how versatile they are and they would make great gifts for teachers and librarians! Also I love how much sturdier they are than paper!
What a clever idea !
Adorable, love this idea!
clever project! I love being able to use scraps or stray charm squares for this.
Thanks for sharing, this is such a cute idea!
I think I’ll make some to send as free gifts for my shop’s customers!
♡
gostei muito criativo
Gostei bem criativo
What a brilliant idea! I will definitely have to make a load of these to give along with books to my nieces at christmas!
great idea. thanks for sharing.
I’ve seen paper ones of these – but never fabric ones! LOVE it! Thanks for the tutorial!
Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
Hope you have a fabulous week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/
Love how simple these look and how they will save the pages from being turned down…grrr! 😉
How cute! I know some bookworms (myself included) who would love these!
I would love it if you would link up at Watch Out, Martha!’s first link up party: Martha Mondays on May 7th! Hope to see you there! (www.watchoutmartha.net )
Adorei esse marcador de páginas… é lindo.
Vou levá-lo para o meu blog.
Bjs e obrigada por compartilhar.
Just stopped by to let you know that I featured this on my round tuit post this week!
Thanks again for linking up! Hope you have a great week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
These are awesome! I still prefer paper books too, and I have quite a summer reading list. These are perfect! Thanks!
So fun to make!!! I just tried it, and they will be my go-to sweetest little teeny present this year!
So cute! A couple of these will find their way into my 7 year old’s stocking this year!
this is something like I made last year with felt.
Only I cut out hearts decorated one side and the sewed to/gether
I love this idea. It seems that whipping the last seam by hand on the very edge would allow it to lie flatter in the book. Thanks for the tutorial.
I made several of these this week. I followed a commenter’s suggestion to whip-stitch closed the back so it would lay flatter in the book. Worked a treat! Perfect to use a bunch of fabric samples I’d gotten.
So awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Could probably do a narrow zigzag with the right side of the “zig” falling off the edge and just catching the fabric with the “zag” on the left and get a similar effect to the whipstitch.
This is adorable. Will make them as stocking stuffers for my kids and boyfriend for next year’s Christmas.
Sorry, you lost me at “Open fabric into a triangle” – how do you do that? These look so cute, I know I have a bunch of scraps I could cut into 2.5×5 strips (I don’t buy pre-cut packs), could make up a bunch of these for gifts, even my 9-yr old could do this as she’s wanting to learn to sew!
I know it sounds confusing, but if you take it step by step with a bookmark in front of you, and follow with the photos, I think you’ll understand how to make the triangle! But let me know if you still have a question after you try it once. Makes more sense when you have it in front of you!
I have the bookmark in front of me now and I’m following the directions exactly and I have no idea how to open it into a triangle! When I pinned the perpendicular edge and sewed along the pinned edge I ended up with a half triangle! Help please!! 🙂
Hi Ashley! I am sorry you’re having issues with the triangle part! If you want to e-mail a pic to me at lindsay.conner(at)gmail(dot)com, I’ll see if I can help!
Hi Suggestion?
Hold the piece up, fold in half, turn a little to the left and you will see a triangle.
Love this design! I have one of these from over 60 years ago:) Its made out of some leather. No lining and its embossed in gold with the words…This is where I fell asleep.
Thank you
Julie
I really didn’t know what to do with the seam. It didn’t look good in the back and it didn’t look good in the inside back.
Lovely idea
This is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Can’t wait to try to make some of these 🙂
thank you! I’ve been wanting to do a bookmark and I love your idea!
I followed the tutorial exactly, but when I turned the seem to the back, it does not line up to be a perfect triangle, the back is longer than the front.
Hi Debi! Yes, that’s how mine turned out, too. You followed correctly. This design is meant to maximize the fabric (two per two charm squares), but feel free to experiment with dimensions if you are after a perfect triangle! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Hello! I added and lined up small magnets to the inside of the pockets before sewing them closed. The magnets hold the ‘page marker’ so it doesn’t easily slip off. Just be sure the magnets you choose aren’t too strong or they could tear the pages. “Real books” are too precious to damage, esp. old classics! E-versions are not in my library!
That’s a really smart tip! Thanks for sharing!
I signed up for your blog. Thanks for sharing.
Will definitely be making a few of these for Christmas! Thanks for the pattern!
These are so cute and I loved them so much I added a link to your tutorial in a post I wrote about great Christmas gifts for quilters over on the Quilting Focus blog.
https://quiltingfocus.com/2015/11/christmas-gifts-for-quilters-part-2/
Thanks so much for sharing such a great idea!
WHERE did you get that ADORABLE hippo fabric?!?!
This was purchased on Etsy years ago! I think it was a Japanese linen.