Durable Baby Book

Experts agree it's beneficial to start reading to your children at an early age. This durable, material book will delight both parents and baby.

Time frame: Two to three hours

Level: Moderately difficult

What you need:

• Quilted material
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Three different-colored pieces of felt, each at least 14 x 6 inches (Buy felt from a bolt in a fabric store to make seven-inch-long pages, or you could modify the size of the book to fit a standard square of felt.)
• Decorative-edge scissors
• Foam stamps
• Craft paint
• Paintbrush
• Squeezable fabric paint

1. Cut out two rectangles of quilted material to 18 x 8 inches. Pin the rectangles together with right sides touching. Sew around the perimeter of the material, leaving a four-inch opening on one side to turn the material.
2. Remove the pins and turn the cover right side out. Sew the opening. Sew around the perimeter of the cover to make a decorative edge.
3. Cut three pieces of felt to 14 x 6 inches using decorative-edge scissors.
4. Using foam stamps, stamp two simple objects, one on each side of the front of each piece of felt. You might want to use a theme of fruits, animals, toys, or mix them up. Allow the stamps to dry. Paint the name of the object under each stamp using squeezable fabric paints. Allow this to dry. Turn the felt pages over and repeat this process on each side of the back of the felt. Allow this to dry.
5. Lay the three pieces of felt on top of each other. Center the pieces on the inside of the quilted cover. Sew down the center of the felt, catching all three pieces of felt and the quilted cover in the seam. Reinforce the seam by sewing over it. If you like to embroider, you might want to embroider the child's name on the front of the cover.

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Great Gifts © 2001 by Marilee LeBon. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

To order this book visit the Idiot's Guide web site or call 1-800-253-6476.