School starts soon (where did the summer go?). That means the rush is on to find all the necessary supplies. It doesn’t matter if you buy or borrow your school books, protecting them is important; after all they are very expensive. Instead of the usual paper-bag cover, make your own with old denim jeans.

I purchased a denim wrap-around skirt from Goodwill, but any pair of jeans will work.

If you are using pants, cut open one of the legs and lay it flat on your work table. Cut a piece of denim four-inches longer than the size of the book (front + back + spine + four inches). Measure the height of the book and add two inches. Fold the extra inch of fabric at the top toward the wrong side and sew a hem. Repeat at the bottom.

Make a “pocket” for the cover to fit into by folding the end in two inches (wrong sides together) and hand stitch at the top. Repeat on the other three ends.

My skirt didn’t’ have patch pockets. Instead, I cut off the tie and stitched it to the center of the spine. If you are using a pair of jeans, cut out a pocket and sew to the front of the cover.

For very little money and time, you can make a whole slew of denim covers to protect every book and folder.