This is a great project for a kids room of any age! The choice of fabric and finishes can make it young or old boy or girl. I just created this for my newborn son. My daughter’s bookshelf is filled with so many books it can be hard to get her to choose just a few for bedtime so this can be a great tool before bed: Ask your little one to choose their books for the night and place them in the holder.

In an effort to make it accessible to everyone including those without a sewing machine, I’ve made this a ‘no sew’ project. If there are those of you who do sew then it is easily modifiable to do quickly and easier on your machine. Depending on your fabric this should cost you no more than about $20.

If you’re looking for great fabric you can also try your local FabricLand but there are also great resources online. One of my favourite new shops is Pink Panda http://www.pinkpandafabrics.com/. The bonus is that they are a Canadian site and they offer FREE shipping within Canada.

Tools you will need:

• Scissors
• Iron and ironing board
• Measuring tape
• Double rod bracket (Lowes, Sears or other hardward stores)
• Wood dowel, one ½” one ¼ “ ( Lowes, HomeDepot or another hardware store. * note, that double bracket you choose may call for a different size of dowel so purchase your bracket first)
• Heat n Bond ^® adhesive (FabricLand)
• 1 metre or less of a fabric of your choice

Always start be pre-washing your fabric (unless you selected something that is not washable), iron it out flat and you’re ready to begin. The first step will be to decide how wide you want your holder to be. (Remember the larger you make it the more books you may have to read at night ) The one shown here is a piece of fabric that is 20” x 20” and the dowel that came as 48” was simply cut in half. You can adjust to use the full length of the dowel which may look great above a bed in a great coordinating fabric. In that case you would need to increase the fabric to something like 20” x 44”. If you would prefer to have the inside of your holder not show the wrong side (non-pretty) side then you would need to double your length and just fold it in have so both the inside and out shows the same pattern.

Start by ironing the two 18” sides of your fabric first a ¼” fold then ½ “ fold

Apply a Heat n Bond ^® strip along first fold at the crease. Following the directions on the package, once paper backing is removed iron second fold over so the raw fabric edge is enclosed.

Now iron the opposite sides of your fabric first with a ¼” fold then 3”. You may want to insert your dowel at this point to ensure that this fold will easily hold the dowel when completed. Once measurement is set, use another Heat n Bond ^® strip to secure the second fold in place.

That’s it! You’ve almost completed your hanging book holder. The last steps are to insert the dowels ( the smaller dowel of ¼” will be used in the back bracket, the ½” in the front), hang the double rod and embellish your fabric if you choose to.

There are so many ways to make this project your own. You could paint out the rod holder and/or dowels, you can add appliqués, ribbons, buttons or more to the fabric for a personal touch.

I’d love to see any finished project that you make! Please leave a comment with your questions or photos. I also have more pictures of a sewn version on my blog http://papayastudios.blogspot.com/

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Jennifer Walling is the mother of two, and loves to create unique things for her kids. She owns Papaya Studios, creating modern and whimsical clothing for children. This busy mom-entrepreneur likes to challenge her creativity in a variety of ways to make useful and interesting items. Visit her at papayastudios.blogspot.com