Scripture Cases

LadyBug got her first set of scriptures this weekend. They were a gift from her grandma (my mom) after her baptism. She was pretty excited about it. As a matter of fact, it was her Primary class's turn to help with opening exercises on Sunday and she signed up ahead of time to read the scripture, knowing that she was getting new scriptures. We found the reference, marked it with a red pencil, bookmarked it, and she read it over and over to make sure she had it just right.

Recently I ran across instructions for making a quilted cover in a blog I follow. So, I decided to make one for LadyBug's new scriptures. I noticed that Grasshopper's scripture case had a rip in it, so I decided to make one for him as well. My original plan was to run to JoAnn's on Saturday afternoon and let the kids pick out their own fabrics. But I remembered a couple of pieces of fabric in my stash that I thought might work well; red for LadyBug, who happens to adore the color, and blue for Grasshopper, who thinks that if it isn't blue, it isn't a color worth noticing. I pulled the fabrics out and the kids were enthusiastic. Fortunately, I also had coordinating fabrics in my stash, as well as a small piece of batting and plenty of interfacing, which saved me a trip to the fabric shop. I cut the fabrics, got the interfacing pressed on everywhere and began quilting.

This was fun for me because I'd just taken a beginning machine quilting class a couple of weeks ago and was excited to try out my new skills. I thought I'd better keep it simple for a beginning project, so I just did straight-line quilting with my walking foot. I considered adding a little flower embellishment to LadyBug's cover in the large empty squares in the pattern, but after a little practice I decided that my free-motion skills need a little more honing. She's not a flowery kind of girl, anyway. Here is the back-side of the cover so you can see the detail.


Here is hers, all finished. The cover fabric is a South Seas Import. I have it in two other colors. Unfortunately, the selvage cuts off in just the wrong spot and it doesn't have the name on it.


Here is the front inside, with a little pocket just the right size for marking pencils. The fabric for the inside, including the lining is a Moda Marble, in red.


I wanted the quilting in Grasshopper's cover to be a little different, so I did a sort of crosshatch pattern. I'm thinking now that it might have been a little better had I turned it on an angle like LadyBug's. This fabric is Bali Rain by Blank Textiles (I think).


Here is the little inside pocket. I liked the contrast of using the cover fabric. I had a little more of this blue than I did the red in LadyBug's, or I would have done hers like this too. The fabric for the lining and inside came from JoAnn's.


Amy at Amy's Creative Side wrote up the instructions for these covers and you can find them here: Tutorial — Quilted Bible Cover. The instructions are easy to follow and include a section for customizing the size to your needs. Since my covers are smaller than hers, I thought I'd include the measurements I used. I calculated these using the conversion section in Amy's tutorial. This is for the medium size LDS Quadruple Combination (7⅜" x 5⅜" x 2⅜").

Exterior fabric:
Cover: 10" x 16" (to be quilted and then trimmed to 8⅞" x 15")
Handles: 2 - 4" x 14"
Tie: 1½" x 18"

Interior fabric:
Jacket Cover Pocket: 2 - 8⅞" x 8"
Pencil Pocket: 2 - 5½" x 3½"

Lining fabric (or interior fabric):
8⅞" x 15"

Batting:
11" x 17"

Interfacing:
Lining: 8⅞" x 15"
Handles: 2 - 4" x 14"
I also added interfacing to the jacket cover pockets and the pencil pocket. After you have pressed the jacket cover pocket in half, add interfacing to one side, from the center to the outer edge. This measures 8⅞" tall x 4" wide (you'll need two pieces, one for each side). The interfacing for the pencil pocket is 5½" x 3½".

These 'scripture cases' (as my kids call them) make two fun finishes for March! Hooray!