This project is a great way to turn the illustrated pages of a cool book into a fabulously unique decoration.  Great for children’s books, field guides (“Shells of the Florida Keys”), and vintage travel guides.

Materials: cookbook or illustrated book, cord, sewing machine, thread, exact-o knife, cutting mat, quilting ruler.

1. After deciding on which pages to use (I chose 10 pages for my garland), cut each page from spine with an exact-o knife, cutting as close to spine as possible.

2. Trim edges by laying pages on cutting mat and cutting with exact-o knife and ruler.

3.  Determine where you want to sew cord to page and draw a stitching line in pencil on the top half of your page.  (NOTE: the lower down the page that you stitch your cording, the more movement it will have, flipping around more.)

4.  Thread sewing machine with thread that complements the cord/yarn.  Use different thread color in bobbin, if you like.  Using zigzag setting, set the stitch width to easily sew over the cord.  (If you have a cording foot, use it!)  Zigzag over the cording for 36″.

5. Feed the first page through and, with cord laid on stitching line, sew cord to page.

6.  Afte