Cover for The Quilter’s Planner

I was pretty excited to get the newly-developed Quilter’s Planner (more info HERE if you’re interested) for Christmas. I decided it needed a fancy cover to protect all my

The Quilter’s Planner

plans! A quick Google search for “planner cover tutorial” found one HERE by Jodi Bonjour on her blog Sew Fearless.

Now, Jodi’s tutorial is for a planner of a DIFFERENT SIZE, You can follow her general directions, but here are my modifications to make it the right size for the Quilter’s Planner. As is often the case, it took 2 tries to get this right, so I’ve also made a few notes about what worked for me.

First, about cutting: I cut the pieces for the cover, lining, fusible fleece, and Peltex (stiffener) 20-1/2″ x 11″. The sleeves were cut 5-1/2″ x 11″. Here are pictures of the interior of the planner cover, showing what the sleeves are:

Interior of the planner cover, showing the sleeves and the closing tab

Interior with the planner in place, cover inserted in the sleeves

I pretty much followed Jodi’s instructions, BUT here are a few hints:

I spray basted the backing to the Peltex–that stuff is slippery.
It may be a good idea to cut these pieces 1″ larger than needed and trim to size after quilting the cover. As always, things shift a little during quilting.
Jodi used a big snap to close her cover, but I used hook-and-loop tape. It’s more adjustable, and who knows what all I may jam in with the book? (Plus, I couldn’t find my snap setter 🙂
Jodi’s directions just say to attach the tab closure. For the record, you do that by lining up the unfinished end of the tab with the unfinished edge of the planner cover, centering it along one side.
I cut my binding 2-1/4″ wide, attached it to the inside with a 1/4″ seam, and turned it to the outside. This made the seam attaching it to the outside almost 1/2″, which made the planner cover fit tightly into the pockets. It worked out fine, but check your seams so you don’t find the pockets have gotten a little too small!

I quilted my cover, which holds all the layers together really well. I’m not sure what would happen if you didn’t do that. Here’s a picture of the quilting: