How You Can Make a Leather Binder Cover

Leather will give your binder some personality, no matter what you are using it for. You can cover your scrapbooks and photo albums in leather while teenagers can give their school binders a face lift. The process is not so difficult and the following tips will guide you.

Your leather should be unrolled so that the soft, furry side faces up while the glossy side lays against the surface you are working on. Your binder should be opened and laid on the leather. A ruler should be laid up against its topmost edge while a permanent marker should be used to draw a line along the edge of the ruler. This process should be repeated on the bottom and a one-inch border should be created above and below it.

In addition, you should measure six inches away from either side of the binder and the spot should be marked with a dot. A vertical line should then be drawn to connect each dot and the lines on the top as well as on the bottom should be extended so that they will be able to meet the ends of the vertical lines.

Subsequently, the binder should be removed from the leather and the latter should be cut along the lines you have drawn in order to have a rectangle. The spine of the binder should be painted with an even layer of rubber cement. It should be pressed down against the center of the rectangle and closed to the left so that the corresponding leather flap will be brought with it.

Additionally, the flap should be lifted and the left front flap of the binder should be painted with rubber cement. The leather should be smoothened down against the binder with your palms and the former should be flipped over so that the right flap will be glued down as well. The glue should be allowed to dry properly overnight.

The binder should then be opened and the excess leather on either side should be folded inward. It should be closed and the leather should be allowed to move while it closes. You should hold the leather in place with your thumbs and the binder should be opened again. The folded flaps should be glued to the inside of the binder with rubber cement. You should thread a leather needle with a thick cotton thread and stitch along the top and bottom of the binder, very close to its edge. This will give it embellishment and make the folded flaps safe.