A new year and a new day planner! I’m one of those old-fashion types that still carries a paper day planner. I find it so much faster to to jot down my ideas and pen in to-do lists than to fiddle with menus & buttons.  It’s become a tradition for me to cover those regular plastic day planners at the start of the year.

1. Select your fabric I usually use leftover fabric from previous projects: my first dayplanner was made from a vintage tablecloth I found at goodwill, the green one was fabric from old army pants that I loved to wear, Ikea always has great colourful fabric and this year I found this great knit fabric that was $3 in the bargin bin at Fabricland (and I was also able to make 3 pillow from the lot).

Since I was using a knit fabric I decided to double the fabric up because of the stretch. Some sort of heavy twill is always a good choice. Cut your fabric at least 1″ inches wider on top + bottom and add 2.25″ inches from the sides.

2. Put in an elastic holder Having an elastic around your planner is great, especially to keep the loose notes in place. Fold the edges over the day planner and mark 2 holes about an 1″ inch from edges. Use an eyelet punch to reinforce the holes.

Mark with a pen and make holes onto the plastic cover of the planner. You can use one of those hole punches (see below)

With good sides folded on the inside, sew the flaps together.

3. Assemble the dayplanner Insert the day planner into the fabric flaps. Pull the elastic through the eyelet and the hole you made in the plastic cover and secure with a piece of duct/packing tape. Repeat with the other eyelet.

I have my planner with me at all times, it’s always in my purse mixed with other books and snacks. Follow the same instructions for covering other types of notebooks or sketchbooks too.