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View Winners → Archive Dec 19, 2012
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Do you dream of having a secret room open up by pulling a decoy book lever? Can you settle for a smart-looking vessel to hold your cash or phone? Maybe something a little discreet to hide tampons or a spare key? Besides hiding things, this D.I.Y. could make a great last minute gift (or clever “wrapping” for a gift) for the literati in your life. Use a small book like us for a wallet, or scale up for a clutch.
MATERIALS:
-hard cover book (we used a small, thin book that could easily accommodate a zipper without needing extra fabric)
-zipper
-felt or other lining fabric
-hot glue gun + glue sticks
-razor/exacto knife
-scissors
STEPS:
1.Carefully cut off all the pages at the spine. If your blade is really sharp, make sure it doesn’t pierce through the cover or spine. (I made that mistake. Old books are especially brittle/delicate.)
2.Keeping your zipper zipped, begin hot gluing the front side of the fabric part around the edges of your book. For the second side, you’ll have to glue the zipper to the book by “closing the book.” Do the best you can to get the zipper down in the right place; you can always unzip the book and reenforce the second side with more glue. Keeping it zipped ensures the two sides of the zipper will line up in the end. (We started with the end of the zipper at the bottom of the book.)
TIP: Cut your zipper some slack by gluing it down in a more gradual, less sharp angle. It’ll allow for easier zipping, which means better functionality.
3.Measure/cut your felt (or lining fabric of choice) to fit across the inside of your zippered border and glue it down.
4.Zip up. Enjoy.
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