Any tips for making quiet books/busy books?
 

I have become fascinated by the pages I've found on Pinterest and want to try my hand at it. Will do some experimenting, but thought I might avoid some pitfalls by asking here first.

My plan is to make the pages out of felt, but with bosal ironed in-between to give some stability. Later on, I am thinking of doing fabric pages so the book can be cleaned a little easier. Especially for babies and toddlers, I am wondering how many germs might accummulate in these books. Any tips about how to construct the pages would be appreciated.

How did you bind your book? I am torn between creating individual pages so pages can be swapped out, or just sewing the book together. For the first book, I am thinking to keep it simple and just make double pages out of felt (with the bosal cut into page-size pieces before sandwiching) and sewing the pages together down the middle. This will be more of a baby/young toddler book so I am thinking not too many pages in the book.

How do these stand up over time? I am wondering about putting so much effort into pages that might later be unwashable.

Barnbum made the cutest books for babies she called them Talkabout books. I know the construction is completely different from what you were thinking but these hold up quite well to washing and baby abuse.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t-t191386.html

imade my son a fabric book about 26 yrs ago when he was about one. it was one that you make from a panel. I liked the 100% cotton that i lined with a poly batt. it went thru the wash beautifully.i stitched it thru the middle. please show us what you decide to do.

I made one eons ago and used a heavyweight cotton without any batt or interfacing. I bound the edges with bias tape. It was great, because it was totally washable. The book was sewn through the middle pages. There was a different colored pick up truck on each page. A buttonhole was on the bed of each and a pocket stitched to the back of the page. I made little cut outs for each page from interfacing. The items were then to be placed in the truck of the same color. If I did it now, Velcro would be my friend!

Many years ago my Mother made a simple book of fabric for my kids. She simply took an old bed sheet and cut the pages out, about 10 by 10 inches, as I remember, not sure if she had a fold in the center or not. Then she simply glued cut out pictures from magazines and calendars, with white glue to create the pages. The edges were not pinked or finished, just plain, but did not ravel much. I don't remember if there was a cover, or how the pages were fixed together, possibly sewn. That book was used and used, could not be washed because of the glue, but got thrown into the toy box and tossed about and it held up well. The pictures didn't come off though they did show wear. So many children enjoyed it, was super inexpensive. Little fingers could turn the pages with ease, and you guessed it, Mom lived through the depression days.

Ethel

I have made several "quiet books" out of felt (I buy by the yard and not squares ... I think the yardage is better quality) I buy extra heavy weight pellon interfacing to put in between the felt pages. I use gromments and rings to bind the book. Pinterest does have lots of cute patterns for pages. I like a variety of skills in the book ie: velcro, snaps, zipper, tying, etc. Lots of fun to make!

We have a couple ladies in our shop who make these books. They make them out of fabric with a thin batting inside the pages. They triple stitch the 'binding' and do some quilting on each page. They assume these books will be dragged around, heavily used and often need to be thrown in the washer. They must work because we have repeat customers for them.

I made one for our Son, Steven, when he was 2-3 yrs. old. It was wonderful for him when he was a little older. He loved the "zip the zipper" page. Tying page was good, and helped him with tying his shoes when he was in kgn. or so.
Time well spent.Mariah