Bookmonsters guard your books and the page you're reading whilst being terrifyingly cute.

These bookmonsters are sewed by hand and really aren't hard to make!

Usually these monsters are made from scrapbook paper but they are much more durable when made from fabric.
I believe this is the original paper-bookmark page.

Have fun!

Step 1: Cut Out the Shapes

What you will need
Felt and thread in black, white and red, plus a colour of your choice :)
(Fabric) scissors
Needle and pins

To make a bookmonster you will need to cut out two eyes and pupils, some scary teeth, a tongue and two colorful peaces of felt for the head. You could use my templateor just cut out a square the size you want and go from there (as you can see in the last picture).

Step 2: The Pupils

To sew the pupils on the eyes I used a back stitch from the top to the bottom of the pupils. Have a look at the pictures if you don't know this stitch yet.

Tip
To make a knot in your thread very easily you can thread the needle and wrap the other end of the tread around the needle. Then slide this knot-to-be around the tread, at the end it will turn itself into a knot. Again look at the pictures for more information.

Step 3: The Eyes

Before you start to attach the eyes to the head, first measure where you want them to go and secure them with pins. Hold in mind that you will need some room for the other stitches around the sides of the head.
If you turn your work with you while you are sewing, the stitches will come out more straight.

To hide the end of the tread after you made your last stitch, first make a knot and then stick the needle in the felt and let it come out a couple of stitches further. Pull the tread a little bit and cut it, then the end will disappear in the felt. This is shown in the last three pictures

Step 4: The Teeth

Pin the teeth to the head of your monster, you might need to cut some fabric of the sides before you start sewing.
For this step I used the same stitch (back stitch) as for the pupils in step 2. You can see this stitch again in pictures 3 and 4.

When you are finished, make sure that your teeth are nice and pointy and start at the edge of the head. You can cut them with your scissors, as you can see I forgot this at the right side of the most left tooth.

Step 5: The Mouth

Before you take your needle, decide if you want to leave a message on the back of your monster or not. On the very first bookmonster I made (for my boyfriend's birthday), I first 'wrote' my message and then sewed the mouth on. I cheated a little by using a thicker thread so the letters would also be a little thicker than the heart.

Because I wanted the front and back to be appealing I chose a running stitch which you can see in picture three.

Step 6: The Tongue

With the first (orange) bookmonster I made I simply pinned the tongue onto the mouth and sewed everything to the back of the head at once. This time I wanted to do it a bit nicer.

Use a blanket stitch to attach the tongue to the mouth, in pictures two and three you could see this more closely, or any other stitch because the tongue isn't that visible as the edge of the head.

Step 7: The Head

Use the same blanket stitch you used in the previous step to sew the last bit of your monster together.

For the stitching around the corner you could try to replicate pictures three to five. I hid the thread that normally goes on top of the fabric between the two peaces of felt. This way the stitching will look the same on both the front and back of your monster.

Put your final knot on the inside of your monster, to have a nice finish. When you stick your needle into the felt and pull the tread through you can cut it over there and the thread will disappear between the felt (as explained in step 3).

Step 8: Use It!

Congratulations! You created your own bookmonster!

To keep it happy and healthy let it nibble on as many books as you could read, or your e-reader like my dad does ;)

I hope you have had as much fun reading and making as I had making and writing, and I would love to see your results!
Thanks for your time,

love,
Sanne.