A great solution to help pre-readers to choose their own books.. Click above for pics, below for the how-to and be sure to give Megan a THUMBS UP if you find this project helpful....
Tools:
-A 47-inch by 40-inch piece of fabric (I used Amy Butler’s “daisy bouquet” ) -Two double curtain rod brackets. I bought mine for about $5 each at Lowes, but here are some I found online -Two, 4-foot long wooden dowels or curtain rods that fit into the brackets. Drill and drill bits -Level -Stud finder -Pencil -General sewing supplies, like a sewing machine, thread and scissors -Optional: paint, paintbrush and sandpaper (options 1 and 2) and wooden balls or other end caps for the dowels (option 3).
Steps:
We’re bonkers for books at our house, but allowing our 3-year-old daughter to choose her own every night before bedtime can be a lesson in patience. She’s a dilly dallier as it is, but what makes it harder is that her bookcase, like most bookcases, only displays the spines of the books. Since she can’t read the book titles, she pulls every book off the shelf until she recognizes the cover art of the one she wants. I made this hanging book display to help solve that problem. It’s modeled after school-grade book display cases that show the fronts of books, and hopefully will make choosing a bedtime book easier (and faster!). Instructions: -Fold the fabric lengthwise, with right sides facing, so you are working with a double thickness rectangle that is 47 inches by 20 inches. -Using a 1/2-inch seam, sew the fabric together around one of the short sides, the long side and about half-way down the other short side. -Turn the fabric right side out through the opening, poking out the corners with a turning tool (a pencil will do—just don’t poke all the way through). -Sew the opening shut by folding the raw edges toward each other, then top stitching down that short end of the rectangle. -Now you’ll need to sew casings for the dowels on the two long ends of the rectangle. You can either do this by measuring the circumference of the dowels and folding that amount of fabric, plus a bit, over or actually laying down the dowel, wrapping the fabric over it, and pinning it along the side of the dowel until you’ve created a tube that holds it. -Remove the dowels (if you chose the latter route) and sew the casings. -It’s time to hang the hardware on the wall. Locate two studs four feet apart on the wall where you want to hang the book holder. (Note: my studs were four feet apart. It’s not a bad idea to find your studs before you start the project and make a book hanger that aligns with your studs. Or just use those little plastic things they sell to hold screws in the wall). -Test out the locations with the dowels. You don’t want the curtain rod brackets to be so far apart that the dowels don’t reach, but you don’t want them so close that the fabric gets bunchy. Mark the stud locations lightly with a pencil. Using a level, mark the points where you want the brackets. Pre-drill holes for the screws. Screw the brackets onto the wall. Hang the fabric on the dowels, then insert the dowels into the brackets. The brackets should come with tiny screws that tighten onto the dowels, holding them in place. Load with books. If you screwed the hardware into studs your book holder should be able to handle a good amount of weight, but don’t go too crazy. Option 1: Before getting started, you could paint the ends of your dowels a color that matches the décor of the room or the fabric. Option 2: If you don’t like the color of the brackets, you could paint that, too, with a paint that adheres to metal. Sand the metal first so the paint has something to grab onto. Option 3: In addition to or in place of the tiny screws that hold the dowels in place, you could cap off the ends of the dowels with a cute wooden ball or some clever object. I plan to do this but haven’t found the right thing yet. Option 4: The brackets don’t jut out very far at all, but if you’re worried about someone bonking their head, sew slipcovers for them with a little padding inside. Option 5: If you have enough wall space, make four or five of these and install them above one another. It could be cute to make a rainbow-like display—red patterned fabric for the top one, orange for the next, then yellow, blue, green, and purple.
Sources:
See Links Above
Give Megan a THUMBS UP if you find this project helpful....
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
What a great idea! I have been looking for something I could hang on the wall to store/display books and this is the best idea I have found. I am in the process of redoing my daughter's room and I will definitely be incorporating one of these.
view Tashy's profile
Oh, wow, I love this! If only I was better at sewing...
view pyjammy's profile
Love, easy, and practical idea. I could easily see installing two of these: one low for easy, toddler access; and another high for display. I could even imagine small doll or toy peeking out here and there.
view Yolanda's profile
Very sweet, practical design.
view JudiAU's profile
I LOVE this (and her blog). I am so going to make it.
view inkstainedwriter's profile
I love it! I really need to learn to sew. I can see my son mistaking it for something he should hang off of though...
view CallieC's profile
Very versatile idea.
And inkstainedwriter, are you going to give us a blog address?
view vwsmith's profile
Thanks for the kind comments, everyone!
I had this project in my head for months. It was so easy to do--I shouldn't have waited so long to get to it. My 3 year old loves it. It's been up for a couple of weeks now and it truly has made the book selection process go more smoothly.
FYI--that's her little sister in the photos.
Yolanda--that's a great idea to put a couple dolls in there. You could even sew pockets on the front for them to sit in.
For those of you who don't sew, it doesn't get much easier than this. If you know how to work a machine at all, I'm sure you could bang this one out.
I just posted this tutorial on my blog, too, with some extra photos if anyone's interested. (Ink-stained Writer--thanks so much for your kind words about my blog, too.)
http://pennycarnival.typepad.com/penny_carnival/2009/02/tutorial-hanging-book-display.html
view pennycarnival's profile
This is wonderful - thanks for sharing such a great idea!
view momnipotent's profile
Such a cool idea and it looks great too! I'm going to make one for Emmett's room!
view mrsletson's profile
Love this idea. For those who are scared of sewing (which is almost me), using stitch glue might work.
view ksg's profile
LOVE it. So simple and easy, can't believe I didn't htink of this. Geez.
view moptop's profile
Love this! We've been looking at wooden book type displays and they are over our budget, but I love fabric so this is awesome. Thanks so much!
view DebraLynn's profile
This is such a great idea! I love it.
view 3Birdies's profile
Great idea! Love the idea of incorporating fabric, brilliant!
view Shakespeare's profile
I love it. Cute material too. I think I should pay you to make me one :)
view aprylgrace's profile
This is a great idea! I'm all over this one...this weekend!
view MKMommy's profile
Guess what I am making tomorrow. This has opened a whole new world for me! Lol!
view jessie2147's profile
Totally cute idea! I can't wait to make one for my little guy when we move to our new house. Thanks for sharing!
view upstategirl's profile
Thanks again, everyone. I'm so flattered that people are considering making their own. If anyone does end up doing that I'd love to post photos on my blog, so please stop by there and let me know. Thanks!
view pennycarnival's profile
If someone were sewing machine-less like me, then perhaps the project could be modified to use a king-sized pillowcase? I think it could work with minimal hand stitching. Thanks for the great idea!
view ZenAgainYoga's profile
This is great!!!
view j_wild's profile
Cute idea!!
view ooh_food's profile
Thanks again, everyone!
ZenAgainYoga, a pillow case is a good idea or you could use a fabric that doesn't fray on the edges, like fleece or wool felt. Ooh, wool felt could be very cool. You could create some kind of design on the front with other colors of felt (just glue the pieces on). You could just hand stitch the casings, which wouldn't take too long at all.
view pennycarnival's profile
Wow.. I wish I would've foud this project before.. My kids bed room wall was empty for a long time .Then I filled it up with thier name's alphabets.
view bnb4life's profile
This is so cool. I want to build a wooden bookcase, but this would be so much quicker, easier to coordinate with other fabric.
view housefulloffur's profile
Did you make that quilt?
view cliodog's profile
No, Cliodog. My great-great grandmother made it. It has some holes in it, so I've been trying to think of a way to repair it or re-create it as a gift for my dad. I've never been able to find a pattern that looks like it, though. Do you know anything about that design?
view pennycarnival's profile
Great idea! I had been wanting one of those cute book racks to put by my kids beds, but the one at Pottery Barn Kids is $60 or $70 and that seems a bit much to me. I knew there had to be a less expensive way of doing this. Love this idea!
view donnafergie's profile
lovely. i think this easy access will encourage my kids to "read" their books. i have them in boxes on the floor and they hardly get touched.
view fussbus's profile
Just wanted to let folks know that I'm doing a free giveaway on my blog of a hanging book display. Just leave a comment here telling me about your favorite children's book:
http://pennycarnival.typepad.com/penny_carnival/2009/03/a-giveaway-win-a-hanging-book-display.html
I'm going to draw a winner on Thursday.
Also, I don't mean to self promote so much, but everyone's response to this was so positive I thought I'd try selling them in my Etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21894640
Thanks again!!
view pennycarnival's profile
No, I don't know anything about quilting. I just like the look of that blanket and was wondering if I could find it new somewhere. But if it has holes in it, I wouldn't cut it up--just find some fabric with little ladybugs on it, and cut the ladybugs out and applique them over the holes. I think that would look cute and add to your ancestor's design without ruining it. I have a tiny quilt my great grandmother made for me when I was born, and now it is my daughter's doll quilt. I just had to repair a few rips, and now it is sturdy again.
view cliodog's profile
I love, love, love this project! I am so doing this! Thank you for posting your idea!
view ajmagda72's profile
I wonder if simple-styled curtain rods wouldn't be just as nice and easier than dowel rods. Cool idea. Might be fun for adults too! Thanks.
view awalt's profile
Definitely, await. I actually mention that in the tutorial. My original hope was to find wooden brackets, so I bought the wooden dowels to go with them, but I never found any.
view pennycarnival's profile
Functional, simple and LOVELY!
view natts's profile
beautiful!
view Snappy's profile
Heart warming. I'm going to try doing this for one of my nephews.
view rahulrrao's profile
Thanks for such a great idea! I used an older towel that I had for the fabric (I happened to have dye that matched my son's room). I used two dowels, attached one to the wall by drilling through it, and attached the dowels together at each end with string. The terrycloth towel made it very soft and cozy and looks very cute! Didn't cost me a thing except about an hour (after dying the towel)!
view ZENHAPPY's profile