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One Mama's Daily Drama

One Mama's Daily Drama

Organized Chaos for Year-Round Family Fun

Home » Holiday » How to Fold a Book Cover From a Paper Bag

How to Fold a Book Cover From a Paper Bag

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Do you remember how to fold a book cover? Follow this simple tutorial to protect and personalize all of your textbooks with a paper bag.

a chemistry textbook wrapped in a brown paper bag with a text overlay that reads "how to fold a book cover"

Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, Keri Houchin earns a commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

When I was a kid, we spent the first day or so of school getting our new textbooks and covering them. Most of the time, we just used a brown paper grocery bag, although some teachers had cool book covers that were just the right size. Even with the teacher book covers, I usually folded them inside out so that I could draw all over mine.

You can find book socks on Amazon.com and office supply stores, but there’s something that’s really fun about making a DIY book cover and personalizing it.

Covering a book is the best way to make sure it doesn’t get damaged too. I even covered mine in college so I could sell them back to the bookstore at the end of the semester and get back as much as possible (still usually less than a quarter of what I paid).

If your child needs to protect their textbooks, or you just want to decorate the books in your home library, learn how to fold a book cover with this simple tutorial.

DIY book cover for textbooks

This technique will work on just about any sized book. If you book is very large or very small, you’ll just need to find a bag or paper that’s the right size.

Supplies

  • books
  • brown paper grocery bag, wrapping paper, or any paper that’s a few inches bigger than your book when it’s opened flat
  • scotch tape or any decorative tape
  • markers, pens, stickers, etc. to decorate
chemistry textbook covered in brown paper and decorate with markers

Instructions

1. Cut the paper bag to make it flat.

Start by cutting your paper bag down one side. If it has a seam, choose that corner. Cut around the bottom of the bag to remove it. Also remove the handles, if it has them.

a left-handed person cutting a brown paper grocery bag with scissors

Lay out your paper bag on a flat surface and line up your book in about the middle.

a chemistry textbook sitting on an unfolded brown paper bag

2. Fold the top and bottom edges.

Using the book as a guide, crease the top and bottom edges to be the size of the book.

folding the edge of the bag against the textbook

Move the book and fold in the top and bottom edges to create a flat seam. Smooth them down really well. They should line up with the edges of the book.

chemistry textbook sitting on a folded bag

3. Fold the side edges.

At this point, your book probably has two really long sides. While you can fold them over the book that big, I prefer the cover to only have a few inches of overlap.

textbook covered by brown paper with long flaps

Either move the book to one side or cut the paper to fold over the front of the book with about 3 inches of overlap.

textbook front flap with book cover

Open the front book cover flap back up and use it as a guide to trim the back cover to be about the same size.

textbook with cover trimmed to fit

4. Secure the book cover with tape.

Fold the front and back flaps back over the book and tape them to secure. I used scotch tape here, but I’ve used packing tape and duct tape before to make sure it really doesn’t come apart.

You could also try washi tape or something else a little prettier.

scotch tape holding the book cover flaps onto the textbook
brown paper book cover on a textbook

5. Decorate your book cover.

You can leave the book cover plain or decorate it however you like.

Since this is a chemistry textbook, I wrote the word “Chemistry” with a Sharpie and outlined it several times with other colors to create a fun bubble effect.

brown book cover with "chemistry" doodled in blue and green sharpie

Book Cover ideas

Get creative with any kind of paper and other embellishments to make your book cover one of a kind. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Use gift wrap, scrapbook paper, or a large coloring book page to cover your book.
  • Create a design from washi tape to decorate the cover.
  • Cover the entire paper cover in duct tape to make it indestructible.
  • Take notes on the cover to highlight quick reference information you’ll need often (like formulas for science or math).
  • Doodle your favorite things about the subject.
  • Write the name of the subject in as many languages as you can find.
  • Glue another piece of paper onto the cover to use as a pocket.
  • Find a way to use the grocery bag handles! I tried, but couldn’t come up with anything that would last.
Step-by-step how to fold a paper bag book cover pin.

Check out some other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:

  • Printable Planner Bookmarks
  • Printable Book Plates for Book Lovers
  • 10 Ways to Help Your Teen Get Organized for School
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Previous Post: « Printable Bookplates for Book Lovers to Organize or Gift
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Hello and welcome!

I'm Keri - geek, mom, crafter, and color lover! One Mama's Daily Drama is all about creating a happy home through beautiful DIY projects and home decor, practical planning and organizing, and easy kids activities. Read More…

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