I made up some of these fun notebooks to have on hand for hostess gifts and other last minute gifts of appreciation. I had received one myself years ago and still use it to organize all my computer passwords!

1. Lay notebook of choice open on a table and cut oilcloth with pinking shears so that it is 3/8” bigger along the top and bottom and 3” wider on the sides.

2. Fold sides in to make flaps and tape into place to secure while sewing.

3. Sew along top and bottom of oilcloth, securing the flaps into place.

4. Insert notebook and TaDaa!

Tip: If you wish to put embellishments on the front of the notebook, sew them into place first before sewing.

I’ve also made these with cotton fabric. The procedure is the same, except first double fold and sew the fabric around the perimeter to prevent fraying.

Happy Holidays!

Here are some sewing tips that will make working with oilcloth or coated fabric much more enjoyable.

1. Needle - denim or size 16 needle, but we’ve also used the whatever needle is in the machine #12 without issue

1. Thread- poly-cotton is fine.

1. Set Stitch Length a bit longer 3.5, seems to help to have the feed dogs push the fabric a bit farther along and reduces the likelihood of creating a rip from perforating oilcloth.

1. Masking/Painter’s Tape is your friend for keeping pieces aligned – pins will leave holes that won’t ‘heal’, so choose to use pins in the seam allowance or not at all.

1. Take it slow – no need to rush since sewing errors are hard to undo – holes remain – remember and slow helps it go through the machine better.

1. Presser Foot is also key -The only time you need to use a special presser foot is when the oilcloth or coated surface is in contact with the presser foot – such as top-stitching.  Here are your presser foot options—-

• Teflon - cost $3 not most effective foot, it did work better then the standard presser foot, but a little bit of pulling and keeping fabric taunt has it went through the machine was necessary to keep things moving especially when the first starting.
• Roller- cost $3 – experience is the same as teflon but less pulling, but it still needed a bit of a jump start in the beginning.
• Standard Presser with Masking or Painter’s tape on the bottom – it worked fine, might need a little jump start at the beginning and a little fussing to get the tape to cover the bottom
• Walking Foot – keeps everything moving, take it slow and steady.
• Tissue paper - no need to change the foot, just put a strip of tissue paper over the area you want sew, make sure it is aligned properly since the downside is you can’t see what you want to sew. Then, when you are done just tear away.

Bottom line – do a little tweaking with the presser foot and extend the stitch length and you will have success!

Friends and customers have been asking, so we thought we’d explain the differences between our oilcloth and our coated fabric. Oilcloth is woven cotton that has been covered with PVC. Its front is shiny (except for the chalk cloth) and its backside is rough. It is a heavy, hardy material that lies well flat, has a stiff body (for tote bags, for example) and stores well by rolling it.

The coated fabric is a regular quilting weight fabric that has been covered with polyurethane. There is no PVC or vinyl in it. Of our three coated fabrics, all have smooth fabric backs. They each have a slightly different weight. Where the Zippity Doo Dah has more body and can be rolled to store, the Odyssea and Amy Butler are supple and soft and can be rolled or folded like a non-coated fabric.

Oilcloth                                         Zippity coated fabric

Odyssea coated fabric         Amy Butler coated fabric

All the oilcloths and coated fabrics can be cut without fraying (though the coated fabrics tend to fray with time) and lend themselves to so much creativity!

To help, we put together an Oilcloth – Coated Fabric Chart:

Next -the Monster List of Oilcloth and Coated Fabric Projects!